Between Earth and Air
by Mahou Shoujo Crystalic Katomi
Summary: Two sisters from Earth fall into the hands of the Cyclonians. Later, one stays by force and the other is taken away, only to be found by the Storm Hawks and a lot of trouble. Will she cope with this strange world? Or will her anxiety take over?
1. Chapter 1: The Portal to a Strange Land

_**Between Earth and Air**_

Disclaimer: I do not own the Storm Hawks. All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners. Also, this is kinda AUious so be nice.

_Chapter 1: The Portal to the Strange Land_

Earth, a planet mass made up of mostly dirt and water. It is a world said to be the only place where it can support life. Out of this life, there is a species that can invent and reason with the world around it. This species is called humans.

Now humans are a complicated race that relies on both emotional and reasonable values. They sometimes think of themselves too highly and fight among each other too much. In fact, one group of humans is fighting against another group for doing a monstrous deed that killed many innocent lives. At the same time, they are trying to promote peace for a better world. Yes, humans are very complicated creatures for their perspective of good and evil.

But some humans have achieved greatness through their values. They have seen new creatures, discovered new planets outside their solar system, and made accomplishments that have better their existence. Of course, some of these humans are still closed-minded and don't believe in the concept of other worlds or magic, but there were a few of those who believe in these ideals and much more.

This is the story of one of those people, her sister, and the friends she met…

* * *

In the big city of Seattle, where the rain is never ending during winter season, the humans were walking through the streets, carrying an umbrella over their heads for protection from the cold shower. Throughout these streets, one girl was staring inside a store window. Her hair was a golden brunette that went to her shoulders and her eyes were as blue as water. She was a slim, yet muscular body, with black sweatpants, and a gray t-shirt with a black ink dragon symbol on it. Under the shirt was a light gray color tank top and on top of it was a black coat to keep the rain off her. The girl's feet were covered by black and white, M.C. Escher shoes. She was staring at the shop, no one noticing her. Except…

"Emma! Let's go!"

The girl, Emma, turned to another girl, someone slightly taller but older than her. She had a darker brown hair that came to past her shoulder. The older girl was wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and a blue coat to match the current weather also, with black rain boots also. Her eyes were brown to match her hair. She walked over to the teen, grabbing her arm and dragging her away.

"Come on! Emma! It's about to close." The girl said, as the other started to walk with her. Emma looked at her sister, Katie. They were siblings that said to be twins born two years apart. She didn't see why though. She was way different than her sister in everyway she thought of. The older one was musically talent with piano, was three years ahead of her in grades, and had tact. The younger sister, however, was half tomboy, liked speaking to animals and inanimate objects, and was better at the math language than the English language.

Anyway, the two were in Seattle to explore the old underground city that burned down ages ago. It was Katie's vacation from college and their mom told them to do something together. They decided on the Seattle Underground because of a rumor Emma heard about on the news about people have been mysteriously disappearing when they wander away from the group. It was probably a silly rumor, but she wanted to see it. Just to see if there were really ghosts or aliens abducting those lost or deceased before the real world comes crashing down on their imagination.

The two made it to the entrance and, with a tour group, started to walk into the dark tunnels. It was lighted by a few lamps that were strung along the wall and a few beams of sunlight came above. The buildings were old and damaged by fire. The tour was amazed at this part of history that was hidden underneath their modern city. Emma was just disappointed that she didn't get to see anything out of the ordinary.

The teen started to flick her tongue in the air like a lizard, until she saw her sister. Katie was standing near a dark part of the town, motioning her arms to follow her. The younger sibling shrugged and walked over to her sister.

Emma put her hands in her pockets and said, "What is it, Katie?" The older girl smiled and pointed to a burnt down house. The teen turned and gasped in amazement. There, near an old broken wall of a brick house was a rip. Not a rip in pants or fabric, but a rip in reality, or at least her reality.

Katie took out her camera and took a picture of the portal. Emma just stood there in awe. But it was clear that both of them were curious at what was behind it. The younger teen gulped and started walk towards it. She turned to her sister and breathed deeply.

"Katie…" The teen started, "I-." Before she could finished, an earthquake shook through the ground as the already destroyed town started to fall apart. Katie tried to get her balance, but not before watching her younger sister fall through the portal.

"EMMA!" she called, as the older girl started to run. She went into the rip as well. After that, the asphalt fell through where the siblings have been.

* * *

Terra Cyclonia, the capital of an empire that has shown terror and sadness through out the skies of Atmos. It was a warehouse of the most powerful weapons, the strongest ships, and the most talented soldiers in the world of air. Almost all the terras feared of what their cruel and unusual leader would do.

Unfortunately, these soldiers called Talons were humans and as such, were not very bright. If they were, they would have notice two girls wearing weird clothes not accustomed to their world knocked out on their floor.

One of the girls started to stirred and woke up. She blinked before looking at the other one and started to shake her. "Katie, wake up." she said, before the older girl got up. She blinked before turning to her younger sister, confused to where they were.

"Katie, I don't know where we are," the younger teen started, "But we're not in America anymore." She smirked, as she watched Katie's expression of confusion. The two stood up and started to explore the castle. They were amazed at the technology, but cautious of the guards. They were staring at an unloading dock when they heard something.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SSSSSHE'SSSSS BUSSSSY?!"

Emma and Katie jumped, and turned to see four anthro lizards, glaring at a shrimpy-looking guard. The one who was closest to the guard had a dark-green scaly skin and a muscular built. The other one was muscular too, but his face was more inward and was taller as well. The fat one was a lighter green and had a shorter tail than the other three. The last one was so scrawny; it made him look like a female. All four had the same yellow colored eyes, and wore the same clothes, which were brown shorts and jackets, and spiky armor. The first one looked to be their leader.

The guard gulped and said, "S-she in-inside h-h-her lab, w-w-working on her n-newest p-plan, Repton." The dark one, Repton, growled and whacked the guard with his tail. The two sisters gulped as well, knowing that these are definitely people (or lizards) not to mess with.

"But we got the crystal! We demand the right to see her _highnessss_." he said, flicking his tongue at the guard. Emma was amazed by how Repton said "Her highness". It was made to sound like an insult. Maybe the ruler of this place was a tyrant? Also, she knew that the leader was also female. That might help with being the same gender, the two can be friends with the empress and probably, if she wasn't as tyrannical as they said, she and her sister could get out of her.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps entered the room, as the lizards turned to see a woman heading towards them. The woman was light-skinned, with had yellow eyes and pinked hair that stood up. She was slender and wore dark pink/purple clothes with a shirt that revealed some cleavage. The woman also had tanned armor on her shirt as well. Emma suspected she was at a higher rank than the guard.

Behind her was a man that was like the wrestlers of her world. He had a huge built chest, but very thin legs. He also had purple eyes to match his purple hair, that was jelled back to make him look almost bald. The man wore green pants and a purple armor shirt that covered in orange armor. The younger sister swallowed, feeling smaller in the man's present.

The woman stopped and looked at Repton, tapping her lower arm in perfect rhythm. "Sorry, Repton, but Master Cyclonis is busy." she said, before holding out her hand, "But I'll take that crystal off your hands if you don't mind."

The lizard growled, and, holding the crystal closed to him, he said, "Oh no, Ravesss. I got thisss crystal. I give it to her." The two started to argue, as the bigger man and three other lizards growled at each other. Emma watched, realizing that this alliance was probably a shaky one. One reason was how Repton came back with how hard he got the crystal and should get the credit. Another one was how the two were fighting over who gave the crystal to their leader. This proved that the lizards didn't get along with these humans very well. It was a few minutes, before she felt a tapped on the shoulder by her older sister.

"Come on, Emma." Katie said, "Let's get out of here." Even though the younger sister wanted to stay a little more to see how it would end, she knew the risk if they stayed. The girl stood up, but bumped into a staff accidentally.

The domino theory is when one object fall, and a lot more can follow. Imagine this effect using staves. Somehow that one weapon started to fall, causing eleven more to fall loudly. The two sisters watched the effect end near the group as the last staff slowly stopped on the floor. The lizards and soldiers stopped arguing and stared at the two who weren't definitely Talons. In fact, they didn't look Atmosian at all.

"Intruders!" The big man called, his voice raspy, "After them!" Emma and Katie squeaked, watching the Talon guard and lizards run towards them. The younger one blanked off, and started to run. The older sister was ahead because she started to run before Emma got distracted. The girl caught up as the two ran through the dark, metallic halls.

"I think we should split up! We might have a better chance of not getting caught and escaping with our lives intact!" Emma said, looking forward at a split. The other sister nodded, knowing it was probably better if one of them survived and told the story. As the Katie went left and the other girl went right, the lizards split up to follow the girls; the scrawny and fat one right, and the brawny one left.

Katie ran through the hanger bay, being noticed by the other talon guards. As she ran in random directions to lose the lizard, the older sister also tried to slow it down by knocking over crates. It worked, as the creature was trying to punch his way out. She smiled, but it faded when she saw Repton standing in front of her with a glowing boomerang in his hand.

"Going somewhere, girl?" He taunted, before throwing his boomerang at Katie. She ducked quickly and started to run through another corridor. Repton growled and followed in pursuit, while grabbing his boomerang in the process.

The girl knew she couldn't run for much more and the other lizard was faster than a cheetah. She then noticed an open door. She ran into it and noticed a button next to it. Not risking to be killed by the lizard, Katie quickly pressed it, causing the door to come down just before Repton got in. She then heard a loud roar coming from behind the entrance.

Katie breathed and then collapsed to the floor in exhaustion. 'That was… fun.' She thought, but she knew. That wasn't fun, it was a nightmare. This place was different than Earth and much more dangerous. She and her younger sister had to get out of here before to get killed by these people.

Suddenly, a humming filled the room, as the girl felt something sharp on her neck. "I caught you, rat," A feminine voice said, as Katie knew she had been caught.

* * *

Meanwhile, Emma was trying to lose her half of the lizards through the forges of this world. She was swinging on a chain, the scrawny one trying to grab her. The fat one was below her, running on a converter belt hoping that the girl would fall off already.

"I got her! I got her!" he called, before tripping and landing on his face. The lizard then was dizzy as he rode on the converter belt. The other lizard growled, trying to get closer to the teen.

"Give up! Worm!" he called. He had almost grabbed the girl, but only got a touch on her back. Emma squeaked, which caused her let go of the rope and fall. She tried to grab the edge with her hands, but missed and landed on a nice, soft pile of ash. The girl popped out, coughing the dust out of her lungs.

'Crap, that was close.' she thought, before hearing a screechy battle cry from the lizard. It launched itself at the girl, out stretching its arm to grab the child. Emma did a high kick, which landed right in the lizard's face. He fell down, looking very paralyzed from the hit.

Emma smiled and started to find a way out of the fortress. She imagined herself being out of this place and trying to go through therapy after she told the news about this, who would never believe her. Unfortunately, she stopped just as soon as she realized that she was running towards a cliff.

The teen started to hyperventilate, before slowly backing away from the edge. Her fear of high places and falling were starting to get to her. She can deal with some places, but this was higher than the clouds.

As Emma caught a few breathes, she felt something next to her next. Before she could turn to see what it was, that something pressured her shoulder and it was so strong, she fainted into oblivious black.

* * *

Light entered through her eyes as Emma woke up, gasping for air. She looked around the room, thinking it was a dream, but soon found out it wasn't. The room she was in wasn't her room. It was bare with metal walls and one uncomfortable bed. Katie was also in there, leaning against the wall.

"Well, you're up." she said, as her younger sister started to wipe her eyes with her hands. "I've been captured too, that pink haired woman got me by putting an arrow next to my neck. What about you?"

Emma blinked, as she explained, "I didn't see who got me. I just escaped the two lizards before almost running off a cliff." Then, she took out a bandana that had a metal plate with a leaf doodle and a scar across it.

The older sister blinked, knowing about her sister's fear of heights. Then, she noticed the bandana and got really mad. "Emma! You brought that with you! I thought you weren't going to wear it!" she yelled, as the younger of the two turned to her with an apathetic glare.

"I didn't wear it when we were on Earth," she said, while putting in on, "I brought it for something like this. Now, help me put it on please." Katie sweatdropped and decided to help her sister. Emma's tome in her request for help was sort of rude, but the older one knew it was meant to be polite.

As she tied the bandana over her sister's forehead, she asked, "So, high up was that cliff anyway?" Emma paled a bit and started to shake. Katie was confused, why was her sister acting like this?

"I… Couldn't tell, I only saw clouds." the younger girl answered, feeling that her bandana was tied. The older one blinked as she stood up. There was no one anyone could live past the clouds.

"Clouds?" she asked, until she heard the door opens. It was the pink haired woman and the purple haired man they saw earlier today. The man leaned against the doorway as the slender female walked in, with steady steps. She watched the two with her yellow, piercing eyes.

"Well…" she started and asking, "Any explanations on what you two are doing here?" She looked like she was about to break something. The two gulped, but the younger one took the situation into her hands.

"No, but are you the person who pointed an arrow at my sister's neck?" she asked, smiling sweetly as she could. The woman turned her head to the girl and drummed her fingers on her forearm.

"Yes," the female answered, and then asked, "Why?" The youngest in the room smiled as big as she could.

"Nothing…" Emma said, before muttering just enough for her capturer to hear, "You witch." Then, she started to giggle, as the woman looked very angry at the comment. The man snickered at his superior also, but was quickly silenced when she glared at him.

Then, the woman coughed and said, "Ravess, my name is Ravess… And this is my brother, Snipe." She pointed as the man, who just turned to the front. The younger sister stopped laughing and gulped. She didn't want to fight that guy.

Katie looked at Ravess and asked, "What are you guys? And where are we?" She looked very concerned as the woman turned to her. But before she could explain, her idiot brother spoke.

"We ask the questions around here!" he yelled, stomping out of the door and in front of the older sister. Emma stiffened, and took off a shoe. Then, either out of stupid courage or swift instinct, she threw the shoe at the man's head. It hit, lightly enough not to make any damage, but hard for him to know. He turned, smiling wickedly. The younger teen swallowed, knowing she did something wrong.

The bulky man moved closer to Emma, as she started to lean down. He placed his arms next to the girl, moving closer everything second. She was afraid, but tried not to show it.

"Enough!" someone else said, as another man entered the room. The man seemed to be in his late 20's and was not as built as Snipe. He also had black, jelled hair with red eyes. He wore the red and green jumpsuit, with tan armor over it. The man also had a pump on his left arm. He stared at the room before saying, "Master Cyclonis wants to see the two girls. Have some self control and bring them to the room."

And as soon as he left, Ravess turned to her brother and yelled, "You heard him, Snipe! Stop scaring the girl and help me escort those brats." The man scoffed, moving away from Emma and stomping out in rage. Then, the woman turned to the two and said, "Come on, let's see what the master wants with you."

Katie stood up and walked outside. Her younger sister soon followed after, realizing she had no choice, and wanted to see who the Cyclonis thing was. As they walked, the two earthlings examined the castle. It was more like a headquarters for an army. They had weaponry that made the US Army look like ants, and vehicles that were almost a few years ahead.

Emma thought this stuff was cool but also dangerous. If these guys figured about Earth or the portal to it, they might try to invade for one reason or another. This could lead to a "War of the Worlds" or a nuclear war. The little sister walked up to her sibling and said, "Katie, let's not say were from Earth. We'll keep quiet about our home world and not tell them anything."

The older sister looked at her and nodded. Emma was right about not saying that they were from Earth. But, she was a little queasy about keeping quiet. The man and woman were soldiers, and soldiers can get anything if they used the right method. She decided to wait to see what will happen.

When the group got to the door leading to where the Cyclonian leader was, Ravess started to fix up the sisters up for the meeting. "Now, bow in the present of Cyclonis, speak when you have been spoken to, and don't test her anger." She said, while fixing Emma's hair with her hand. Herself and Katie nodded, one of them not listening (Guess who. D)

The little sister looked at Snipe, and blinked. From her point of view, the man looked scared. She saw that even though he was keeping a cool stance, his hands were shaking. Was the ruler really that terrifying?

When the door opened, the group walked in into a dark room. It was only lighted by dimly bright, purple crystals on the wall. There were also statues of gargoyles along the walls. In front of the group was a throne with the Dark Ace next to it, and on it was a teenage girl not much older than Emma herself.

The girl was pale, and had black hair and purple eyes. She wore a black dress with a two layer poncho over it. The top layer was lighter purple, triangular piece, with a darker piece under it. Behind her head was reddish fan neck piece. On her neck was a silver trinket with a picture of a bird crouching down like a terror symbol. In fact, the two now noticed that it was on almost all the guards and commanders as well. They guessed that she was Master Cyclonis.

As instructed by Ravess, the sisters bowed, but in different ways. Katie curtsied, while bowing her head. Emma just nodded her head and said, "Hey, Cyclonis." Ravess had to control every nerve in her body to not kill the girl now.

The Dark Ace turned to his master, who looked at him. His look was confused by the act of this prisoner. Why did she treat his master like a peasant? He wanted to see if Cyclonis wanted her to be punished, but she smiled, showing no remorse in her body.

"So," The queen started, "You are the two that have intruded in my castle?" Then, she stood up, showing she was much shorter than Emma. The two girls gulped, somehow feeling the negative vibes from the other girl.

"Well, your majesty, we're sorry for invading your castle and running away, but we had problems with your… servants?" said the older sister, trying to sound like they didn't mean any harm to their captors at all. But unfortunately, someone disagreed with that fact.

"THAT'S A LIE!!"

The prisoners jumped to see Repton and his men (lizards) were also in the room with them. They were all glaring at the two, except for the fat one, who was just spacing out at the scene. The scrawny one, however, was resisting to tackling Emma to the ground and ripping her limb from limb. He still had the shoe print that the girl gave a kick to on his face. The teen snickered and thought, 'I have no regrets.'

Repton stepped forward and said, "Cyclonis! These children were spying on us. We just took to instinct and chased after them."

"And we took instinct and ran. You didn't give us a chance to speak!" commented Emma, before smirking and then holding out her hand. "But since you're reptiles, let's be friends." The younger sister had a liking for reptiles, which includes snakes and dragons. Unfortunately, these lizards were as cold-hearted as they seemed to be.

"Thut up!" The scrawny one said, speaking with a lisp as he added, "We don't need your… thympathec!" The girl glared at the lizard and growled. They just stood there, about to fight, until a cough was heard.

The two turned to the girl sitting on the throne as she looked at her nails. She looked bored at the squabble. The empress stood up and placed her arms underneath her chest.

"Now that you're done fighting," she said, "Maybe you can tell me about you and your friend." Emma stood up straight and gulped. She felt intimidated whenever speaking. Speech wasn't really her strong point.

Katie saw the nervousness in her sister and decided to talk for a moment. "We're sisters, your grace." she said, while bowing, "You may not trust us at the moment, but we swear we have no intention of harming you and you kingdom." This was a tactic that Emma knew well. In order to survive, they must have to know that the two were harmless. She just hoped it worked.

Cyclonis raised an eyebrow, and then smiled. This wasn't a normal, friendly smile. This was an evil smile. The two felt that they have gotten themselves in a lot of trouble.

"So, where are you from?" The younger girl asked, as the older two paled. They decided to remain silent for that question. They didn't know much about this world and the places here. The sisters decided to remain silent for this.

After a few minutes, the empress got bored and started to move her pointer finger between the two. It stopped on Emma as Cyclonis smiled. Then, she took out a red crystal. The Dark Ace knew what his master was planning to do. He smiled in amusement.

Suddenly, a trail of red energy shot out of the crystal and pulled Emma up to the ceiling of the room. The girl's fear came into effect as she was up so high. Then the energy disappeared and she started to fall to the ground. She landed with a big thud on the cold, metal.

Silence filled the room, until the lizards started to laugh. The giant snickered and the woman smirked. They were amused at the little sister's fall. She was not and she growled. Katie looked at her sibling, fearful that she could have gotten killed if it were any higher.

"Well… Are you going to tell me or do you want to go higher?" Cyclonis said, as she clasped the crystal. Emma glared at the other girl with murdering eyes. She was really mad and had a rebel streak inside of her now.

"…" The girl remained, as she laid there. The empress raised an eyebrow. Breaking this one is going to be harder yet much more fun than she thought.

Cyclonis was about to grab another crystal. One she knew that would put the girl in her place. Maybe a few days in purgatory would kill her spirit. "Okay, I-"

"WE'RE OPRHANS!"

Everyone fell silent and stared at Katie. The older sister looked stressed as she yelled out loud. Emma turned to her sister and blinked.

"Yes, we're orphans." Katie said, as she kneeled down to her sister, "We were young when our parents died. That's when we also travel to get away from the memories of being alone."

Dark Ace raised an eyebrow and asked, "Then how did you get here?" The older sister smiled sheepishly. This was going to be harder than she thought.

"… We snuck in?" Katie answered, as the lizards and the commanders facefaulted. There was no way that Master Cyclonis would believe this! It wasn't logical for the most secure place in Atmos. Unless you're in a team of six teenagers and an animal, it was impossible!

The empress put the crystal in her cloak and turned to Emma. "See, it wasn't so hard to tell us you're orphans." She said, as the younger sister growled. Then, she sat back on her throne, turning to the sibling commanders.

"Ravess, Snipe, you stay here with the Dark Ace. Repton, take these two to separate rooms for the time being." Cyclonis commanded, as the Talon commanders nodded. Repton growled; another job that every Talon was lazy to do. He walked over to one that lay on the floor and picked her up. Then, he turned to his brothers.

"Hoerk, Spitz! Get the other one. Leugey, you're coming with me!" he called. The lizards nodded, as the scrawny and built lizards grabbed Katie, and the fat one walked over to Repton.

"Ooohhhh, are we going to torture her, Repton? Huh, huh? Are we?" the fat lizard said, as his tail wagged. His older brother sighed, and whacked him with his tail.

"SHUT UP! LEUGY!"

As the lizards left, Snipe turned to his master, along with Ravess. The Dark Ace stepped down and turned to the girl. They were eager to hear what she has to say.

"So?" The Dark Ace started, "What is it, Master Cyclonis?" He kneeled and stared at the master. The smile she had wasn't her usual smile. This was her "plotting-to-rule-all-of-Atmos-again" smile. Then, she stood up and said,

"She's lying."

* * *

"Get in there!" yelled Repton, as he threw Emma into her own room. She landed on her face and got up quickly. Then, the girl ran to the door, only to have it shut in her face. She slammed her arms on the door and turned to her room.

It was as the same as the last one that she and her sister was in. Katie, how was she doing? 'Probably trying to stay calm.' the little sister thought, as she thought back. She was the one who proclaimed the trip to the Underground; in order to prove that aliens were trying to kidnap tourists. She didn't think that the tourists were accidentally walking into wormholes. But Emma was used to it anyway; she played, read, and watched a lot of sci-fi and fantasy so she was more opened to.

Not wanting to stand at the door for the rest of the day, the girl decided to see what supplies she had with her. She walked over to desk and took out the things she had with her: one cell phone, a digital video camera, her Tarot cards, a Nintendo DS with her Pokemon game in it, and her ninja headband that she was wearing. This made at least five items that she had now.

Now, she knew that the cell phone, DS, and tarot set would be useless. This world probably doesn't have wireless connection and the only person she could call was her sister. The other, useless items would be used for entertainment in this place. The digital camera would help if it had enough battery juice to record this place. Emma was about to check when she heard a knock at the door.

The girl panicked, took off her bandana, and hid her things in a drawer. Then, she quickly got on her bed and yelled, "Come in." The door opened to reveal a Talon grunt, carrying a plate of… Let's just say that it didn't look like food that Emma would eat. It was probably good food, but she was a picky eater.

The teen stuck out her tongue in disgust and turned to the Talon, asking, "May I have something else, please?" She smiled to be more convincing. She really didn't want to eat this stuff.

But the Talon snickered and said, "No way. You either eat it, or else you'll get nothing at all after this." The smile faded from the girl's mouth, and she looked back at the food. She REALLY didn't want to eat this stuff. It looked like garbage; very disgusting, unfit-to-eat garbage. Thinking of nothing else to do with it, she did the only thing that could get her on these Cyclonians' bad side.

She threw the plate at the Talon.

The guy noticed it at last minute, and got the food on his face and inside his mouth. He tasted it and paled. Then, he ran out, screaming, "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!! I ATE IT! I ATE IT!" Emma laughed and fell onto the bed, thinking about what she had done. Sure, she could starve to death after this, but after everything that had happened to her after getting here, that was worth it.

She smiled at the ceiling and thought, 'I'm going to like this place.'

* * *

Authors Notes:

I finished this chapter weeks ago, but it had to be edited in order for it to be a work of literature. The revision was taking so long, I started on chapter two. It got all the way to the middle of chapter three before changing editors. It might still be a little bit of novice work, but at least okay for me.

On other notes, I need help with the accents. If anyone has any info on the accents on the Storm Hawks show, including Scabulous', Leugy's and, god forbid, the Colonel's accent, please email it to me.

Please read and review! I respect criticism, but flames will be use for the bonfire I'll be using with Ravess' violins.


	2. Chapter 2: Life as a Prisoner

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 2: Life as a Prisoner_

It was a new day… Or was it an old night? It was too hard to tell for Cyclonia. The pollution in the sky made it hard to tell the time. Also, the smog gave the place a terrifying effect. So, the inhabitants decided to tell the time based on how scary the terra looked from time to time.

Well whether it matter it was day or night, the sisters from Earth were stuck on Cyclonia now. Separated from each other, the two tried to rest on what would be their new homes. But while Katie was sleeping fine, Emma was having difficulty.

The girl was hungry and the growling stomach wasn't helping. After denying the food she got, she lied on the bed, starving herself to death. The only way she could deny her starvation was using a mental technique she has yet to master. For people who don't know, it was call mind-over-matter.

'I am not hungry, I am not hungry, I am not hungry…' Emma thought, over and over again. She sat in meditation form, while placing her hands over knees. As she continued to think the phrase, her hunger was slowly calm down to a soft purr. It still didn't help make the teen full, but it was enough to stall for time.

Turning to the door, she thought of what the consequences would be if she walked out, or if she was able to walk out. But between starving and getting caught, it was better not to be punished on an empty stomach. Besides, it was either eating well or eating what looked like garbage.

Emma got off the bed and crept over to the door. She grabbed the handle, jiggling it to see if it was loose. It turned, meaning that it was unlocked. What luck! The teen smirked as she slowly opened the door. She peeked out to see if the coast was clear. It was, and then she walked through the halls, looking for the kitchen.

For some reason, deep in her gut, she felt this was a bad idea.

* * *

As she walked through the halls of Cyclonia, Emma was scared and amazed at the technology in this place. Amazed by how new-age/retro everything was than in her world. Scared by how this could affect Earth if they found out about it.

While the guards were busy with their patrols and work, the girl walked through the fortress undetected. Even if the Talons were stupid enough to not notice her, she was good at being invisible. At school, she had a few friends and didn't do anything extraordinary to be notice, except when it came to Graphic Design. And this place was almost like her school, so if she followed the rules here, she won't get into trouble.

Unfortunately, she forgot that her school didn't have anthro lizards to stalk her.

"GET HER!" Emma heard someone yelled, as she felt herself being tackled to the ground. On top of the girl were the three lizards from yesterday; the fat one, the skinny one, and the brawny one. The three were amused at their capture of the runaway. She, however, was not.

"Ummm… Aren't you guys are supposed to doing something, other than playing "Dog pile on the prisoner"?" she asked, being insultingly polite. She didn't want the lizards to bother her now, especially on an empty stomach. That didn't work and made two out of the three angry.

"Thut up! Lunch meat doeth't talk!" the scrawny lizard said, as he slapped Emma's face with his tail. As he sat on Emma's back, the other two grabbed her arms and legs, so she wouldn't struggle. She admitted the one on her wasn't really a problem; it was the other two who would be tough.

"Yea, Repton says if you were out of your cage and when he gets back, we'll take you back to Bogaton for a cook-out." The brawny one said, strengthening his grip on her legs. The teen realized this guy was all muscle and no brain. He was probably the next weakest of the group, the skinny lizard being the weakest.

Then, the fat one spoke, "Yea, he said that we can eat you if you walk out, or we just kidnapped you from your room." Okay, scratch what she thought last time. This guy was the weakest of the group because of his unfit body, him sounding like a little child, and how he said the plan out loud.

Emma sighed and muttered, "That doesn't sound like a good plan." Then, thinking about it, she added, "Nor very creative."

The three lizards blinked, confused by what the teen said. "Uhhhhh… What do you mean?" the fat one asked, letting go of her arms and scratching his head. Rolling her eyes, the teen put up her arm and struggle to sit up. This caused the skinny lizard to fall off and onto the brawny one. It didn't phase the bigger lizard for a bit, but the other one was a bit knocked out. The girl sat up in respective samurai pose.

"I mean… Succumbing to your natural instincts like the half animals you are won't make you gain any respect." Emma said, "You are evolved species from an ancient race that used that technique in the Prehistoric age. If you were really creative, you wouldn't just eat me. You probably slice me up into a million pieces, and then eat me. Or you can torture me a little bit. But if you think of anything more creative than just eating me, at least let me have a full stomach first."

The three blinked, ignoring what she said about a full stomach, and began to think, this time the big lizard letting go of the legs. The girl smirked as she stood up. Then, she walked away while whistling. Her almost brilliant plan worked. While those lizards are thinking, she could walk off to the kitchen and eat. But it would only buy her time before they figured out that they have been tricked. And for a moment, she felt that she wasn't safe at all.

* * *

Katie walked through the music room, looking for a piano, or something like it, to play on. After a good night's rest, she woke up to find that the door to her room was unlocked. So, she might as well go explore and find a music room. Now, she was looking for a piano to play on.

To her, she enjoyed playing the piano. As a kid, the girl had fun with the kiddy-style one and soon had a talent for playing the instrument. She has come far and already had a major for being a pianist. She wanted practice a song she had gotten back on Earth while it was still fresh in her head.

Katie suddenly got stiff when she heard a cough behind her. She turned to see Ravess staring at her. The woman didn't look very happy as she drummed her fingers on her folded arm.

"Well," the Talon commander started, "What are you looking for?" The girl gulped, feeling like this woman is stronger than she looked. If Cyclonis was that cruel, who knows what her other subjects can do.

Knowing it was best to tell the truth, Katie explained, "Well, my door was unlocked so I decided to look around and found this music room. I am now looking for a piano to play on." She smiled innocently, sweatdropping at the same time. She hoped that the woman would believe that she was telling the truth.

The woman smiled wickedly, turning her head away from the girl. "There are no pianos here. It's violins that make the most beautiful music here. Pianos are just… too vulgar compared to them." The younger woman grimaced in anger. How dare that this person insulted her favorite instrument? But, in order to stay alive, she kept silent about this woman's comments.

Ravess walked past Katie and picked up a violin from an opened case. Then, she started to play her theme melody. The girl stiffened some more when listening to the music. It was horrid, terrifying. Whoever composed this was definitely someone with problems. Not only that, it sounded terrible. But the college student remained silence, in order to protect herself and her little sister.

The music ended when a Talon soldier entered the room, looking very nervous. As the commander and her guest stared at him, they noticed how scared he was because his knees were shaking.

"R-Ravess… W-we're s-s-still looking for the g-g-g-girl." The man stuttered, his goggles fogging up. Katie blinked and turned to the woman. She didn't look so surprised about this.

"Then, why did you come to me?" the commander asked, strumming her fingers along her arm. The soldier gulped and took the courage to speak again.

"W-W-Well…" he said, but stopped when he notice the younger one in the room. Then, he approached the woman and whispered into her ear. Katie couldn't hear it exactly, but she knew it was something bad as Ravess got angrier by the second until she broke her violin bow.

"WHAT?!" she yelled, as the talon coward. Then, she turned to him and commanded, "Keep an eye on the girl! Make sure she doesn't escape! I'll go get the other one before Repton tries to." Then, the commander left in a faster pace of walk.

The college student blinked and wondered if they were talking about her sister. Then, she prayed that Emma would be fine right now.

* * *

Meanwhile, the little sister was walking through the halls of Cyclonia, still looking for the kitchen. It was getting pretty difficult since she wasn't used to the language of this world yet. And for a moment, she was thinking that it was best to find a library than the kitchen. Libraries have all the knowledge and language in order to understand, right?

Unfortunately, in her quest to look for the library/kitchen, Emma walked in circles until everything look the same. Then, she came to the same conclusion that most everyone has when they are stuck in a very dark, scary hallway.

"I'M LOST!!"

Yes, in the deepest, darkest bowels of the Terra, the girl was indeed lost. She was wondering around for hours before admitting that she is lost. Well, at best, it was a precisely minutes than hours; the teen had a problem of losing track of time without a watch. At least there weren't any guards to hear her break down.

As Emma continued to walk through the halls, she heard the grumbling of stomach, hungry for at least some bread and butter. She started to regret not eating the garbage food, but did she really? It was mostly a battle of taste over survival; she preferred bread and butter over garbage that could be nutritional. But she didn't want to take that chance.

As she dragged her feet along the floor (She was trying her best to not to collapse), the girl thought she heard footsteps. It was probably the lack of food taking over her mind, but maybe she wasn't alone. The lizards probably figured out and followed her. 'Probably not,' she thought, as she yawned, 'Being tired and hungry is just increasing my paranoia.'

But as she continued, those footsteps were still following her, getting louder every moment. Emma wanted to experiment if she was being followed. Whenever she stopped, it stopped. When she started to move again, it started back up and at greater pace than before. Now, she knew that she was being followed, but by who? The only ones that knew she was out were the lizards, right?

Feeling the instinctive urge to run away, the girl started to run with all her might. She hadn't run this much since yesterday, and she felt that she was going faster than last time.

But thanks to her starvation and sleep-depravation, the teen started to slow down. Soon, she collapsed onto the cold floor, hitting it with a thud. 'Crap,' she thought, as she heard the footsteps coming closer.

The footsteps stopped and above her was the giant from yesterday. He seemed really mad; either that or his face was stuck like that. Emma used some of her strength left to turn her head to see him, smiling a scared smile. The man growled and grabbed her ankle, dragging her somewhere else. For some reason, the girl related in to a caveman dragging along meat from a hunt and giggled at the thought.

As she was being dragged, she was thinking on where this guy was taking her. She came down to two places. One was that the commander was dragging her back to her room. The other one was that he was dragging the teen to the punishing room, if they had one. She sighed in defeat; she deserved whatever she got for running through the hallways if she was a free person.

The journey to wherever they were going was painful for Emma. Since she was the one being dragged, she could feel numbs on the metal floor. And the stairs were a killer when her parts of her body sagged, or her head getting hit. Whatever this guy wanted to do with the teen, he was sure taking his sweet time to get there.

After several minutes of walking, Snipe seemed angrier than before he found her. It was then that he dropped the girl's leg with great force. She blinked and was about to run away, but she got caught by her shirt collar. The man then hoisted her up, lower himself down to have his eyes meet her, and after breathing in, he asked, "Are you stupid or something?"

Emma blinked and raised an eyebrow, confused by why he asked that. Sure, she was school smart and got good grades, but there were still some things she didn't know about. She could admit that she was mortal.

The guy stood up and started to pace. "You offer friendship to Raptors, you disrespect Master Cyclonis, you also pushed her to the limit," The girl shivered when she remember it. "You threw your food at a Talon who was serving you probably your first decent meal since when your parents died, and now you sneaking around!" Then, he stopped and turned to her, raising an eyebrow in response to her. "Do you have a death wish or something?"

The teen just stood there, blinking. Then, she stood there in silent fury. He was just here to ask her that?! Not taking her back to her room or torture?! Then, she breathed in, not wanting to cause an upstart.

The man blinked and started to poke her head with his index finger. "Hey! Are you mute your something?" Emma blinked, realizing that she hadn't said anything to this guy. She thought of why she wasn't talking, in fact, why she wasn't reacting. Maybe it was she thought of the possible scenarios: If she talked, she'll probably say something stupid or mispronounce a word and get laughed at or beaten up, and if she fought the guy, she was going to lose. Maybe it was best to do nothing.

The guy stared at her, but then he slammed his fist on his hand and said, "I get it! You're scared of me." The girl smiled a bit and giggled. She WAS afraid of the Cyclonian, but by the way he was acting, he was actually kinda funny. She immediately stopped, when he glared at her.

"So, it ain't from being scared, huh?" He muttered as he started to pace again. The teen watched him, and getting pretty tired. She yawned from boredom. The man turned to her, thinking she was getting ready to talk, but when he realized she yawned, he growled and grabbed her.

"Say something!" he yelled. Emma stared at the man with an emotionless face, not knowing what to say. She just kept her silence, feeling very uncomfortable with him touching her. She wanted to punch him, only that she knew it would leave to a conflict the girl couldn't win.

Snipe narrowed his eyes and pushed her to the floor. "Fine, I didn't want to talk to you anyway." he said, before walking off. Emma blinked, confused by what had happen. Was this guy really that stupid? If he was, why wasn't he fired already? Maybe these guys were _really_ short staff.

The girl just shrugged and whistled as she walked. She really needed to find a kitchen before something else could happen. Something where she wouldn't be so lucky…

* * *

Repton growled as he walked through the citadel. He had given the crystal to his… Employer and still didn't get any reward that she promised. At least his brothers were getting some food at this moment.

And speaking of his brothers…

The lizard saw his siblings hiding behind a crate, probably afraid of his wraith if they failed, which they probably did. He rolled his eyes as he approached them, from behind like a classic, sneaky predator he is.

"Well?" The Raptor leader asked, causing his brothers to jump. The three turned to their older brother, whose tail was swaying slightly. "Did at least _one_ of them walked out?"

The younger brothers were silent, but the muscular one spoke, "Well, uhhhh, one did came out and we caught her!"

"Then, where issss sssshe, Hoerk?" Repton asked, getting very impatient. He hadn't had human for a long time. Well, it was his first time he had human meat. It was a secret that he kept to himself in order to make him feel feared.

They were all silent, until the fat one started to speak, "Well, We caught her. But she said something about eating her being not creative enough. So, we started to think and when we came up with the perfect plan for her, she was gone." The other two brothers paled when their sibling said that and as their older one grew madder.

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Thankth a lot, Leugy!" yelled the skinny one, as he and Hoerk were about to pounce him, but not before Repton tackled the three all together. He was pissed; for them to fail in capturing a simple target was just inconceivable.

The lizard growled, ready to attack, but stopped when a new figure came onto the scene. It was Ravess, who wasn't impressed by the lack of self-control on Repton's behalf. He growled as he stood up.

"What do you want?" he asked, glaring at the woman. He never liked her, or any Cyclonian for that matter. And with her here, it meant bad news for the Raptors.

The Talon commander breathed in and said, "Why are you looking for the girl?" The three younger paled, knowing if they told the truth, they would be persecuted. Ravess will think they would be aided the person, and those aiding prisoners are dealt with, severing.

Repton just stood before his superior started to talk again. "I'm okay with you looking for the girl to put her back in her room. But since we're here, let us handle it. Leave for your own terra at once." Even though he didn't show it, the lizard was happy. In his opinion, humans were always blindsided to see what is really going on. The commander was one of those people that proved it.

"Fine then," he said, flicking his tongue, "We'll leave, Ravesssss." The three other lizards blinked, confused by their brother's actions. Repton was ruthless and never gave up on a hunt. Maybe he was turning a new leaf and has decided to be nice. The three were really imagining it with pink butterflies and rainbows in the back. Then, they shivered at the thought.

The woman smiled, saying, "Well then." Then, she walked off, showing her backside to the lizards. The lead Raptor smiled a fake smile, and then when she totally disappeared, he turned to his brothers, with his usually angry face.

"Come on, we're going to look for the girl." Repton said, as he started to walk towards the air duct. All three lizards blinked, confused by the older brother's actions.

Now, they all knew that their brother can take it too far with hunting. Sometimes, the prey can do something unexpected, which leads them to getting hurt and/or humiliation. But the fat one wasn't worried about that, as he asked, "Uhhhhh… Repton, why'd you lied to Ravess?"

The older lizard growled as he turned to his stouter sibling. "Because… We have been working for the Cyclonianssss for too long and we sssstill haven't gotten a reward like we have promised. It'sss time we got our duessss."

As he said that, the Raptor kicked down the vent and went into it. The skinny one and the muscular one smirked and followed after their leader. Leugy just blinked as he as he climbed up.

"So does that mean will still have that Barbeque?" Whack! "Ow…"

* * *

The Dark Ace was humble in some sense. Whatever Cyclonis asked, he did. So, when she asked him to help find a couple of girls that had escaped because someone forgot to lock their rooms, he was doing so right now.

Now, the commander had received word that the older of the two have been found and was under guard. Now, all that was left was to find the other annoying brat and take both of them back to their rooms. As he walked, he wondered why the younger one was being so hard to find. Either she was really smart or the Talons here were really oblivious.

And speaking of oblivious, the Dark Ace saw one of his equals walking done the hall, muttering something about a stupid girl. He wondered if he was talking about one of the prisoner or not. He decided to asked and called, "Hello, Mr. Snipe. You found something interesting, I presume."

The giant stopped and turned to his superior growling, "No, I found the stupid girl from yesterday. She didn't want to talk to me. Is she crazy or something?!"

The other Talon commander blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Was it the older girl?" If that idiot let one of them get away, he will have to use all his willpower not to kill the brute. And if it was the older sister, then it would be more work for him. Even if he didn't want to do it, a job was still a job.

"No! It was the stupid lizard girl! Heh! Talks to the Raptors more than humans! Makes ya think she's one of those half-bred ones you hear in myths." Snipe said, as he smiled smugly. The other man smiled as well, knowing that at least there weren't two running around again.

But how to punish the giant for letting a prisoner escaped when he doesn't even know it himself. He could always tell Cyclonis of what he did and let her do the torturing. No, that was too easy. The black-haired man smiled as he asked, "Did you know you let one of our guests escape without knowing?" The other man stopped and started to think. The Dark Ace gave him five seconds to figure it out.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

"OH CRAP!!" The blue-haired man yelled, as he started to run back to where he last saw the brat. The superior commander, however, watched and snickered at this. Instead of punishing the brute, he decided to let him realized his mistake. It was much better than anything else because he can watch while the other one did the dirty work.

But just in case Snipe failed, the Dark Ace followed; just because he heard suspicious scratching in the ventilation system.

* * *

Katie sighed; hoping that her sister will be alright. It had been an hour since Ravess left, and still no sign of her sister avoiding the witch. She knew that her little sister would probably try to hide from these Cyclonians as they called them. The older wanted to figure out what she was doing before anyone else does.

The girl had tried everything to distract her guard, but everything she tried came to no avail. She tried requesting, insulting, and even distracting him. Katie thought she would never get out of her and find Emma. That was, until she heard something from the vents.

"Psssh!" it said, as the college student perked up. She turned to the duct on the wall, then to the guard who was standing near the doorway. Since his back was turned to her, he couldn't see the girl sneaking over to the vent and standing up. She sigh a happy relief, to see that her sister was safe.

"Emma! Thank good you're alive!" whispered Katie, who grasped the bars. "What are you doing out? These people are looking for you and I don't think they'll treat you nicely!" The younger girl smiled, wanting to tell her what she was doing.

She breathed in before starting, "I was looking for the kitchen because I threw garbage at a guard. But I ran into the lizards again. They want to eat me now!" She paused with a smiled before continuing. "Then, I met that giant, who wanted to know if I wanted a death wish or not. And now I'm walking through the vents because I don't want to get caught again."

Katie listened to all that, and had a grim look on her face. She knew her little sister wasn't so adventurous when it came to eating. But she should at least try it before denying it. The college student tried it, and it tasted awful. So, she went to having some of the snacks that was for the Seattle Underground tour. She was at least prepared for food shortages.

Then, the older sister face turned to horror when hearing about the lizards wanting to have her for food. But remembering the argument from yesterday, she also knew that the Cyclonians dismissed lizards as part of their own army. She thought that maybe these reptilian humanoids wanted at least one, or if lucky, both of the sisters for a reward. If that was the case, then that was why Ravess wanted them found immediately.

"So, what were you doing outside your room as well?" Emma asked, smiling a Cheshire cat smile. The other sister blinked, and shook her head, collecting her thoughts.

Katie explained her day after that, "Well… I ate, slept well, and made it out of my room in order to look for piano to play on. I got caught by the lady commander and listen to her bad violin playing. She left, looking for you before those lizards can get to you." Emma nodded, and then heard her stomach grumbled. She blushed with embarrassment.

The older sister rolled her eyes, and whispered, "Go to my room, it has earthly snacks you like."

"And where is your room?" inquired the younger girl, looking back at the Talon, who was talking to another Talon. She hoped they haven't notice her yet.

Katie sighed and quietly explained, "It is a room with a messy bed, and it has my purse on it. The snacks are in there." The little sister nodded and crawled off. The older turned to the guards, who had noticed her by the ventilation. They smiled evilly, as one of them approached her.

"Trying to escape, huh?" one of them said, as the other grabbed her. "Well, Master Cyclonis wants to speak with you." Then, Katie walked away by and against her own will.

* * *

'Jeez! My sister said her room instead of kitchen. I am now thinking that kitchen would probably be better.' Emma thought, as she walked through the vent system of Cyclonia. Instead of the kitchen, she was now trying to find Katie's room. Of course, there were a lot of rooms, but none with messy beds or purses on them. And she ended up as lost as before.

"At least it was better than the hallways." The girl muttered as she continued to walk. In the halls, she felt like an idiot for not reading their language. When she was done eating, she'll go back to her room and when it was safe, look for the library, in order to understand. At least it couldn't be worst now.

Then, the teen stopped and noticed the lizards in one of the bigger spaces of the vents. They were talking about their plan to capture the two prisoners. The lead one said that they should involved stealth in hunting and for someone who wanted stealth, he was loud. Emma decided to call to them, in order to let the reptiles see their mistake. But should she to insult or be nice?

The teen decided on insult as she called out, "HEY! IT'S LOUDMOUTH, PEA BRAIN, FATTY, AND LIZARD LIPS!!" All four turned to her, all questioning her name calling.

"Loudmouth?!"

"Pea brain…?"

"Fatty…?" Sniff.

"LIZARD LIPTH?!"

The girl giggled. Sure, she didn't remember their names, so she went with their personality, looks, and other factors. She just hoped they wouldn't want to kill her now then later, or at least not kill her at all.

Unfortunately, the Raptors weren't too happy to be insulted and went tackled the girl, except for the pudgy one, who was too busy being sensitive about his body. The other three got the teen, for she didn't try to escape. She didn't notice their advance in time. But as Karma goes, when the lizards tackled, their weight added to her own weakened the floor, causing it weakened, and the four all fell through it.

Ironically, Snipe was under them and when they fell, the lizards and Emma landed on top of him. A crash was heard as the surrounding Talons in the mess hall stared at the pile. With their commander on the bottom, Reptilians on top, and the prisoner squashed in the middle, they sweatdropped and tried not to think too much.

The giant came around and saw that the person he was looking for. He quickly stood up, knocking off the lizards and grabbing the girl in his arms. "There you are! I've been looking for you, lizard girl!" he said, not noticing the girl twitching at the nickname she got. "Come on! I'll take back to your room so I won't get in trouble."

"Not ssso fassst!" yelled a voice, as the commander turned to the Raptors, who were already up. Repton growled; he was so close to having a human dinner. There was no way he would have it taken away now.

"That'th our lunch, ya stupid Cyclonian!" yelled the skinny one, as he pointed at Emma. The man growled as he glared at the lizards. He didn't have time for this. He wanted to get the prisoner back into her room before Cyclonis realizes his mistake.

"No way! She's our prisoner! You can't have her!" Snipe yelled back, letting go of the girl and standing in front of her. Soon, the Talon grunts gathered, thinking they'll see a fight.

The lead lizard stood up straight, and said, "Well, we'll just take it from you then!" Then, he leaped, only to get punched in the stomach by the giant. Soon, the other two reptiles joined in, turning into an all-out brawl. The Talons cheered, yelling out, "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Emma flinched and covered her ears. The noise the soldiers were making her feel sick, and the sound bouncing of the mess hall's walls only made it worst. She wanted to get out of here, but she couldn't make it through the crowd, for it was packed as tight as a sardine can. The girl then turned back to the fight, watching the brawl between man and beast.

She was amazed by how both competitors were holding there own. For Snipe, he had great control over his strength, but no where to aim it. His moves were staggering and slow, compared to the lizards. Their moves were quick and the man just couldn't match the numbers the Raptors were in. She felt sorry for him, but didn't show it.

All of a sudden, the teen's tiredness, hunger, and stress came to her altogether as a hard, fast pitch baseball. She couldn't take it anymore, she needed out. Her legs collapsed and she started to crawl away. It wasn't her best idea, for there was a chance was getting stomped on, but it was better than being uncomfortable in a room, where you are either a prisoner or lunch.

As she crawled, Emma thought, 'I am so dead after this!' She felt responsible for this fight. If she had gone back to her room instead of exploring, none of this would have happen. It was probably safer there too.

When the teen made it out of the crowd, she was stopped by a tuning-forked sword. She looked up to see the Dark Ace, who was smiling at her evilly.

"Ah, I see I found you." He said, even though it sounded like mocking. "I would kill you right here and now. But Master Cyclonis has summoned you." Then, the commander grabbed her arm and picked the girl up. "Let's go."

Emma blinked, but then turned her head back to the fight. She wondered why this guy wasn't trying to stop the fight. Maybe it was just bad karma coming back to her. But then she realized something else as well.

It would be too hard to understand because of her very low energy.

* * *

Master Cyclonis was in her private crystal lab when the older sister was brought to her. She had been working on her newest project when the prisoner was brought to her. She turned to the older girl and smiled evilly. If all goes well, Atmos will be at her feet.

The empress turned to the college student and asked, "You're wondering why I summoned you?" She nodded, as the overlord smiled. "You and your sister interest me. You're orphans and yet… you have survived these years. Also, your younger sister seems to have a soul of a fighter. Maybe even something dangerous to my empire."

'What does this girl want?' Katie thought, as she trembled with fear. For a girl younger than her, she sure was creepy. It wasn't by the way she was dressed, but by she acted. It was like a child who you think they were cute until they showed their true evil nature.

"So…" Cyclonis continued, "In order to make sure you two are not a threat, I have a proposal for you and your sister." And just as she said that, the door opened to reveal the Dark Ace. He was holding Emma by her arm, as she looked very tired. The older sister gave her the disappointment look; the younger one smiled sheepishly.

"We have a training course for our army for your age, and it would be wise for both of you to join." Cyclonis said, making sound like a command than a request. "You'll be well clothed, fed, have shelter. Better than what you have been doing. But in return, you have to serve me. Can you accept that?"

The two girls blinked at the offer. Why would the empress offer something like that? It seemed too good to be true. But what other choice did they have? If they didn't accept, the sisters would still be prisoner or worst. They imagined the torture these people were capable of. They didn't want to be torture.

But even though it was the only choice, Emma didn't want to take it. It just didn't seem right. Did she really want to take orders from a girl who was younger and probably spoil? 'No way!' she thought, 'I may like to fight, but at least I can control that urge!'

The teen was about to answer, but Katie covered her mouth and said, "We'll accept." The younger sister was shocked. She didn't want to be a Talon. She thought of angry insults in her head to combat the feeling of biting her sister's fingers off.

The empress smiled and said, "Good…" Then, she turned to the Dark Ace and commanded, "I think the eldest can find her way to her room. You shall take the other to her room."

The man bowed and started to drag Emma away. Katie wanted to protest, but decided it was best to leave. It would be better not to make an argument with someone who can easily kill you.

Cyclonis stared at the empty room and smiled. Part of her plan was completed.

* * *

Emma still felt that uneasiness inside as she was being escorted by the Dark Ace. She felt scared of this man, but didn't show it. He was older, and top in the force other than the Talon's _gracious_ leader. But there was something else, something she just couldn't put her finger on.

They stopped in a hanger bay, the commander let go of her arm. "I'll go talk to the others to see if you are _really worthy_ of working for us." He said, stifling a laugh. He walked off, not noticing the death-glare from the girl. She felt really irritated towards his statement. She didn't, but wanted to kicked that guy in the-.

"HEY! Lunch meat!"

The teen smiled, and turned to the Raptors. They were about ready to leave when they saw her alone and unattended. They were batted and bruised, due to the fight with Snipe. All except the fat one, whose eyes were red from bawling, were extremely down right pissed.

"Oh, hello, how was your fight with the oaf?" Emma said, smiling like a Cheshire Cat. She wanted to be more introvert with the lizards because she liked them. Unfortunately, the more matured of the group was no amused.

"Ssshut up!" Repton said, as he towered over the girl. "Thanksss to you, we got beaten up for nothing! Ravessss sssstopped our fight and we got ssscolded! Do you have anything to ssssay for yourself?"

The girl thought about for a moment, and then said, "If I said sorry and make it up to you, will you still be my friends?" The lizards stood there, dumbfounded. A human, a girl to be exact, was still offering friendship to them. Even after they tried to eat her, she was talking to them as if they were friendly. Was she really that stupid?

"NO!" they all yelled at the same time, the human feeling the full blast of their shouting. She started to clean her ears, thinking that she might have heard it wrong. Then, she turned to them and leaned forward.

"… Why?" Emma asked, looking curious at the time. Repton was about to answer, but he got stumped by the question. Why didn't they want to be friends with her? She WAS a human, but that wasn't right. The Cyclonians were humans, and they had a mutual trust. But that really didn't fit the situation either. So-

"Because you're meaaaan." Leugy, the fat one, said, while bursting into tears. The eldest sighed at his younger brother's behavior, but it helped with giving them a reason. Even though it seemed petty, a reason is still a reason.

The human girl didn't look impressed and breathed in. These lizards really didn't want to be with her. She didn't like it or their opinion. She said, "Sorry for insulting you guys. The name-calling was kinda below the belt."

The Raptors were now really confused. This human was weirder than they expected. Repton was getting tired of her, even when she was brave for talking to him. He needed to get rid of this child before someone else could have second thoughts about this meeting. The lizard didn't want to get yell out again.

"We don't care… You're ssstill a human." He started, before flicking his tongue, and his hand to shoo her away, "Now, go back to your own sssspeciessss, child." The other lizards snickered, watching the teen squirmed under their older brother's words.

Emma growled, but took a deep breath. Then, without thinking, she said all the insults she had kept inside, "No way! I don't want to go play with these stupid talons, especially with the tone-deaf witch, her brainless village idiot of a brother, and their arrogant, bloat-headed commander. I swear if I were a hundred times, heck, a million times stronger, I could beat them with one hand tied behind my-"

"Ahem…"

"… Back?" she finished, after hearing a cough behind her. She didn't turn around; she knew that the three commanders she insulted were behind them. The teen could feel a death glare coming from at least one of them. Also, except for Repton, the lizards were trembling with fear.

The woman looked at them, with an angry look on her face. "Aren't you supposed to be leaving?" she asked, drumming her fingers along her arms. Repton growled, ready to attack Ravess right on the boss. But his brothers saw it, and they grabbed the eldest before he could do anything.

"We'll leave, Ravetth." The skinny lizard, Spitz said, as he and the others started to run out, carrying their boss away. Emma gulped. Her last line of defense left. Now she was alone with people she didn't want to be with. This was making her very uncomfortable.

She continued to stand still, like a statue in a park. Snipe walked in front of her and waved a hand in front of her face. Then, he poked her, which resulted in no reaction. He grunted and said, "See? Told ya lizard girl hates interacting with her own kind." Then, he got slapped by his sister. "Ow! What did I do?"

"She is _not _"lizard girl"." The sibling said, "She is a brat who doesn't know what she is talking about." The girl stayed silent, feeling the urge to punch this witch in the mouth. But she restrained herself, for she had something better planned.

The Dark Ace walked in front of the teenager and bent down to her, so he could see eye to eye. Then, he smiled wickedly as he said, "You're free to go where ever you want since you're a Talon now; cadet to be more exact." Emma smiled a big grin. She can go to the kitchen without getting caught. She started to walk to her first desire place in the fortress.

But then, all the exhaustion from today started to come to her like an airplane crashing down. The hunger and sleep-deprivation had already weakened her, and that first step she took finished the job. Then, the girl did the one thing she thought she wouldn't do today.

She fainted.

All three commanders stared at the child's sleeping form and blinked. The Dark Ace smiled as he walked away. Ravess turned to him with a cocked eyebrow and a satisfied smiled.

"You weren't really going to let her walk around, were you?" she asked, before looking at her brother poking the girl. She slapped his hand away and turned back to the other man. She knew that her superior was many things. Merciful wasn't one of those things.

The Dark Ace turned back towards the violinist and formed a smirk on his lips. "Why, of course I wouldn't let her walk around. I'm not that irresponsible." he said, before walking away again, "Now; take her back to her room."

Ravess growled and turned to Snipe, commanding, "Get rid of the brat." The bulky man turned to her, with an angry look. Then, with ease, he lifted the sleeping child onto his back and walked off, muttering something about being left to do all the work for nothing.

The female commander was about to leave, when she realized a mistake in the sentence she said. She turned around and ran after her brother. "SNIPE!! If you throw that brat off the terra, I will use you for target practice again!"

Meanwhile, Katie watched the scene from the balcony and sweatdropped. 'What have we gotten ourselves into?'

* * *

Chapter 2 is done. Getting a little bit somewhere. I did this in a couple of different sequences. Probably the best I could come up with. If any characters seem OOC, tell me. This is kinda how I see the characters. Chapter 3 will appear soon.

Please read and review!


	3. Chapter 3: An Almost Escape

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners

_Chapter 3: An Almost Escape_

Cyclonian Talons, including the cadets, are known for two things: Their ignorance, and how they followed orders without questioning. While most would be flying by now, Emma wasn't. Instead, the earthling was snacking on bread and water, while reading a book in the library. Well, she wasn't actually reading; she was just looking at the pictures of animals of Atmos.

It had been three weeks since the teen and her older sister landed in this strange place, and both have trying their best to stay alive. They had their clothes change from street style to manufacture army uniforms, not very stylist either. Some people more than others, since both girls had different ideals on how to be safe. For Katie, it was trying everything she was told and telling them a good reason why she couldn't do it.

Her idea worked out for the most part. She was doing fine in riding a skimmer on the ground, even though it was rocky in the first week. She learned how to convert it into an airplane at an appropriate time. Also, she started to get better at combat. But the college student had trouble with morals. When she was order to shoot down another student, she refused because it was wrong. She got punished by doing her classes' practice switchblade set.

For Emma, it was different. Her policy was to be her own person and not do what anyone else who follows Cyclonis. This meant she wasn't going to ride skimmers, or learned how to fly them. It was because of not only her acrophobia, but also of her motor skills. She was past the age to get an official driver's license, but still didn't have one. And the Cyclonian motorcycle was way more advance than any old car. She would have crash down into a rock before taking off.

Even flying and riding were out of the question, the girl did enjoy her fight lessons. She had taken Taeknowndo when she was young and now, she was in Kendo. It was nice to incorporate the techniques she had learned over the years with the skills she was learning now. In fights against students, she had a half and half ratio of wins and loses. But in fights against her teachers, or the Cyclonian commanders, she left before the lesson could begin and trained herself alone or with someone else that was weaker than their leaders. The teen wanted to be ready in secret when she had to fight them.

Even though the girls were separate at times, together they talked about how it was going and ideas on how they would get back at their superiors. The younger one decided to put one of hers into practice. After listening to Ravess' morning practices for far too long, because the vent system picked up the sound waves of her violin playing, she got her sister to find her a trumpet (Luckily, she found one from rummaging through the trash) and waited for the time that the witch started practice. Before the commander began her first note, Emma played the Revelry song near the air duct of her room. Not only did the child stopped a very annoying song from being played, but by accident, woke up everyone on Cyclonia.

Since everyone knew evil empresses also needed beauty sleep, Ravess got punished by not playing the violin for a week. The teenager didn't get caught, but she felt a few people knew it was her, the pink-haired woman included. Why else did the earthling had to clean all the skimmers for the same week the commander didn't have a chance to practice?

Other than that little incident, Emma was mostly a good student. She just didn't want to kill herself when it came to driving. Even though it was probably necessary that she needed to ride/fly in this world, her fear of heights and falling wouldn't let her do it. Not doing anything that has something to do with your fear was better than doing it and panicking, right?

Getting back to today, the girl heard that it was a flying lesson today. So, instead of walking out like she would usually do during a lesson, she decided not to show up and hide in the library. It was a perfect place to hide because the Talons were afraid of going in it. They didn't want to angry their leader by going into her private library.

As Emma was done munching one of the bread she had taken, she reached out for another one. Suddenly, she felt it being snatched before she could take it. She looked up to see Snipe, towering over her with the piece of bread in his mouth. He ripped it off and chewed on it. Once swallowing it, he sat himself down in a seat next to the girl's. She just simply turned away and went back to reading.

She stared a picture of a dragon when she heard him said, "Stupid lizard girl missed another flight lesson today." The teen raised an eyebrow and turned to him. Most people in the fortress called her "lizard girl" now. She didn't tell them her real name for she feared they might find it suspicious. Besides, she liked the nickname "lizard girl", but she wanted to have "dragon lady" instead. (Weird, huh?)

"… So?" she asked, before turning back to her book. The child learned how to tolerate the giant for his stupidity. In fact, she liked being near him other than the lizards, since they were pretty much scared to go near her again. (She heard that the Dark Ace will personally hunt them if they tried to kidnap the siblings again). He was better company than the other people in this place because the Dark Ace scared her, Ravess still had it out for her, Cyclonis was creepy, and the soldiers were probably deprived of one thing only and it wasn't brain cells.

The man grunted and went silent. He just stared at her with his purple eyes. The teen stared back, trying her best not to blink. Inches from each other's faces, the two stared down for five minutes until the commander snorted, and said, "I was just here to tell you that tomorrow is the final test that will let you become an official talon."

Emma rolled her eyes and went back to pretending to read. She listened to Snipe's speech how great it is to be a Cyclonian soldier and how better the world is going to be once it was all under Talon totalitarian control. She didn't care about that. She wasn't ambitious not because of the dangers, but because she felt she didn't deserve to be a leader. She wasn't a follower either, more of a loner.

Then, the man started to explain the test, "It's a simple fight. Whoever wins gets to be a Talon." The girl blinked and turned to him, with a no expression on her face. She set her book down and a head on top of her fist. She didn't like the sound of that, especially if it sounded too good to be true.

"… I'm not that stupid." the teen stated, as she went back to reading her book. She knew that he was not telling the whole truth. She heard that the final test was a sky duel against one of the leaders. So, instead of embarrassing herself, she was just going to spend the day finding the portal to Earth. It was better than dieing before a battle.

The commander growled, muttering something about "lizard girl's death wish". She smiled a bit as she turned the page until she found another picture of a knight-like person flying on a skimmer against a person wearing a Talon uniform. She snickered at this, imaging that knight taking down several of these soldiers and whisking away in her arms. She blushed, until she felt the book pulled out of her hands. The cadet turned to her superior officer, who put his hand on her shoulder. With flailing arms, she tried to reach the book, but the man's strength was too great for her. So, she stopped.

Snipe turned to the book and growled. "Did you know what you were reading?" he asked, turning to the child with a raised eyebrow. The teen fumed as he asked that. She couldn't read their language and it had made her illiterate in this world. It was a bad sign because of the great books that must have been written in Atmos.

"No!" she yelled, "I can't read your language, you idiotic, pompous oaf!" Okay, maybe that wasn't the best thing to say. The man growled and pushed Emma to the ground. She tried to get up, but he pinned her down by her neck. She felt like she was choking.

"Listen here, _**cadet**_," he said, with venom in his voice. "You should be glad I've been having self-control lessons lately. A remark like that would have killed ya. Now, you have one of two choices. One: you either fix that attitude and come to your test, or two:-"

"Don't and Snipe will smash me." the girl finished, in a monotone voice. The giant growled, but got off of her and walked off. She sat up and put a hand on her throat. It hurt, but she wasn't depressed about that. She was depressed about how she lost her anger like that.

Back on Earth, Emma would have breathed out her anger and just let it go. But here it was different; whenever some guard made some smart-aleck remark to her, she growled. Now a growl was just a growl, but it got her into much more trouble. When she growled, the Talons got scared and ran off. And this led to more chores for her to do. But insulting her commander, this was a new high.

'I hate my stupid lack of tact.' she thought, as she got up. The teen sat down and looked at her book. Suddenly, she felt something get in her hair. She grabbed it and saw that it was a paper airplane. Thinking that it was a prank, she opened it up. 'Probably something to make fun of me not being able to read here.'

But when the girl opened it, she saw that it was in English, not Atmosian. And there was only one person who knew English besides her. Her sister, Katie,

It read, "Meet me in the hanger tonight". It must have been important by how messy the handwriting was on paper. The younger sister knew that something must be up, and quickly hid the paper. She didn't want any Cyclonians know about it. Then, she hopped up, leaving the book on the table. Unfortunately, she didn't notice someone was watching her.

* * *

Late in the night, Emma took her time sneaking through the hallways. If there was one thing that Talons don't have, it's nightshifts. It made it easier to walk through the hallways. As she snuck through, she was reminded of her first encounters with the Talons. It was good times before she became a soldier-in-training.

For this occasion, she wore her ninja headband and her old clothes. It helped the girl get into character. Also, she had a bag full of her things with her. If Katie was planning something, it must have to do with escaping. And if they were escaping, then it would be best to get her things so no one else could see them.

When the teen made it to the hanger, she started to look for a silhouette that resembled her sister. Then, she heard a whistle and turned to see the older girl, hiding behind a bunch of crates. The little sister smiled as she skipped over there, sitting next to her sibling and asked, "What is it?"

Katie breathed in, before answering, "I don't think that we can't keep it up any longer. They are starting to get suspicious. I mean, with you being rebellious and scared, and me trying to not kill someone on purpose, they might not think of us as good soldiers. So, we're leaving."

"That's mean you found the portal, right?" Emma asked, hoping that the answer was yes. But as she saw her sister's look, her hopes were diminished. If she hadn't found the wormhole, that meant there was only one way out of Cyclonia.

The younger girl turned pale, as the older sister explained, "I know you don't like this much more than I do. You have the fear of heights and falling. For me, it's just that if a portal is here, then we shouldn't be moving away from it. But with that test tomorrow, it's for the best." Then, she stood up and said, "So, let's go."

The sister blinked, as she stood up, saying, "But how are we going to get off of here? On an individual skimmer, I screamed and panicked. We would fall before the guards can catch us." Katie nodded, as she pulled out the standard Talon switchblade. It was only those who exceed beyond Elite who get customs skimmers.

She moved the vehicle towards an open vent shaft and said, "I heard that there is a shipment of very powerful crystals heading over to another Cyclonian-controlled terra. Since the cargo is too important, it's in a secret hanger bay leading into the Wastelands so it won't get captured. If we time it right, we can get off of it before it makes it to that terra." She hopped onto the motorcycle before continuing, "We can start a new life! No one will know we're from another world, and we can find another portal in a place less dangerous."

Emma listened and thought for a moment. She wanted to have a better life than in the fortress. And it also helped missing out on that test. But there was also her fear if high places. She felt that she might panic and fall down, and it would have been death instead of a few measly cuts and bruises. The teenager sighed; there was no other choice.

She hopped onto the switchblade with her sister and said, "Okay, Katie, show me the way." The other girl smiled, and started up the vehicle, heading it down to the bowels of the evil empire.

* * *

"They left."

"I know…"

"… Shall we leave now?"

"Yes, Dark Ace," Master Cyclonis said, from her Crystal lab. She was talking through a Walkie-Talkie radio on the floor. She put it down and smiled. Tonight was the night for her next phase to be put into motion.

The empress has watched the girls from a distance for some time now. Through every lesson, every minute, she was watching their behavior and their movements. She already knew that the younger of the two was using her library for a hiding place. She even knew the darkest secrets they were keeping. So, the master, being the master, knew everything she needed to know about the girls. But she wanted to learn more…

Watching through a Sevare Crystal, Cyclonis smiled as the sisters traveled through the underground pipe system. The more they traveled away from her, the closer they get to her. Or at least one of them anyway.

The ruler smiled bigger as she thought, 'This is going on smoother than I thought. Out of all the intruders we got, these two made it to the final stage. The older shall be the perfect candidate for my newest toy… And the young loner will face the consequences of her actions.'

She took out a glass figure that resembled the older teenager. Then, she crushed it in her hand, saying, "The young are so much fun to torture."

* * *

Emma was trying not to cry as she held onto her sister's waist. They were going fast, way too fast for the younger sister's taste. As they twisted and turned in the big, metallic pipe way, the teen was wishing that they would just be there already. She didn't want to continue this way anymore.

Coming up upon a break in the path, Katie smirked as she activated her wings when the got to the edge. They opened and glided past the gap with ease. When they to the edge, the older sister tried to closed, only to realized that they were stuck. She tried to controlled the steering, only to realize that they were jammed as well. Heading towards a wall and no way to go but down. She grabbed her sibling and leaped out, landing on the ground with a crash. But it was better than the explosion crash that happened a few seconds afterwards.

Emma was paralyzed when her older sister got up. That was the scariest experience of her life, other than the ones back on Earth. She tried to recover by standing up. Her legs were wobbling from the moment, but started to feel normal. Breathing out, she asked, "Now, what?"

"Simple, we walk." Katie said, as she started to walk on the slippery surface. The Talons must have done maintenance down here because of how clean it was. The metal was shiny that you can see your face in it. Since it was almost like a path, it had to be done. But it made it hard to walk on.

Deciding not to slip and fall, the little sister sat down and started to slide. It was a gentle slope so it was nice and easy to maneuver. The older sister saw this and decided to follow her example. The two slid down the path until they stopped at a place that required some climbing. They stood up and started go up on their journey.

Along the way, Emma was thinking about the life on other terras than Cyclonia. If they were peaceful, they would have no problem fitting in. A hostile place wasn't much better than peaceful one for their skill of combat. But a peaceful one would be easier to conquer for Cyclonia. They needed a peaceful terra that was protected also. But who protects terras from Cyclonia?

Then, she looked at a wad that came slowly down in front of her. It looked gooey and slimy for a wad. The teen came to one conclusion of that it was alien spit. Having flashbacks of watching Alien Vs, Predator, she turned her head up slightly, only to sigh in relief. It was some Alien cannibal.

It was just a gooey blob of slime.

Suddenly, the girl looked surprised and thought, 'Gooey blob of slime?!' She looked up to see that it was a gooey blob of slime. It was big, clear green, and almost looked like something from World of Warcraft. It slowly dropped to the ground, in front of the child. Then, it started to move closer to her at a steady pace. She was scared and started to move away.

Emma knew she couldn't fight it; physical attacks wouldn't phase it, and she didn't have crystals on her. 'If only I had magic,' she thought as she stopped at an edge. She looked down for a split second, before turning back to the monster. She was trapped and helpless. It was going to be her death, but she stood with her usual expression there and breathed.

An inch away from the teen, the slime creature was about to attack. But a red blast came out and literary destroyed the monster. It exploded as slime covered the front side of her. She looked up to see her older sister, who was holding a crystal staff. Then, only one thought came through her brain into mouth, "Where did you get that staff?"

"From the armory when no one was looking," the other girl said, as she walked off. She walked away towards the hanger. The younger blinked as she licked the slime off of it. For an alien blob, it tasted like lime candy. It was also good, even though she prefer grape flavor over lime any time.

Getting almost all the slime off, Emma stood up and walked to where her sister was. She thought she smelt something funny, and it wasn't the goop.

* * *

The sisters made it to the secret hanger bay, where there was a carrier ship. It was huge and had the Talon symbol on the side of the ship. The cranes on the side of the airship were loading the crystals onto it while Talons patrolled for any intruders.

Katie and Emma made it to the deck without getting caught. They were trying to get there fast without making any sound, but since they weren't expert ninjas, the girls had to make it slow. Time wouldn't matter if they weren't caught in the first place, and the carrier didn't seem to be taking off. They were almost to a secret compartment hatch until they heard a familiar voice asking,

"And where do you think you two are going?"

The two squeaked and turned to see the Dark Ace, who was standing behind them with crossed arms. He was smiling, but not the kind smile they wanted to see. It was an evil smile that most villains wore. For some reason, Emma felt more scared, but suppressed it under her skin.

Katie gulped before answering, "Oh! We were- we were lost. And we accidentally came here. Funny, huh?" She sweatdropped as the younger sister glared at the commander. He wasn't buying it, and if he wasn't buying it, it meant that they were caught.

"Oh really?" the man answered before moving his arm up and looking at it, "Is that why you and Emma are sneaking onto our Destroyer, right?" Suddenly, both girls turned pale. The young sibling hadn't told anyone from this world her name. So, how this guy know about it?

Katie turned to her sister as a signal for her to run away. The young girl was about to run, but realized that they were surrounded. With five Talon grunts, Snipe, and Ravess surrounding them, she decided it was better to give up before even trying. She had no weapon and she wasn't strong enough to make it past the blockade.

The Dark Ace smiled as he kept his distance. "Did _you_ really think that you were going to become Talons?" he asked, before continuing, "It was the only way you wouldn't leave so soon, and not kill yourselves when trying to fly. We needed some new test subjects since the previous ones didn't last so long."

"You… You mean…" The college student said, getting caught in between breathes. Emma came to that same realization as well. These people knew that they weren't from here. And they also were the ones who have been kidnapping the tourists also. The head commander made it clear to them in his turn to speak.

"Yes, we knew you weren't from Atmos _and _orphans. The others made it clear when they first came here. The first few panicked and ran off the terra. The next were captured and put through interrogation, but didn't give us all we needed to know so they were... Disposed of. But you two are the first to get here so far…"

"So why haven't you interrogated us then if you knew we are aliens in this world, huh?!" yelled Emma, who was on the brink of raging psycho. She knew that wasn't right; the Cyclonians should have helped the first batch and should have at least sent the second batch home after they interrogated them. She knew that they were cruel soldiers, but that didn't give them the right to do that.

This time it was Ravess' turn, "We wanted to try a new approach. Master Cyclonis has made a new crystal that will look into the memories of a person, including those lost. Every moment that you have seen or heard in your world will be look through the person holding the crystal or so she said."

"So, all the things you learn about your world will be shown to us." The Dark Ace interrupted, "And once we know everything about your world,-"

"We'll smash it!" Snipe said proudly, not noticing the glare from his superior commander, who was being glared at by the woman. The other Talons sweatdropped at their officers for their silly child play of power. Emma just stood there and growled. Katie was confused.

The head commander scoffed and turned back to the girls, "But we have a problem. We only need _one_ for the crystal. And that's not the only thing; we still haven't unloaded the most important cargo onto the ship." Suddenly, the two knew why the ship hadn't left yet. "You see, while the oldest stays for the crystal to look. The youngest gets her just reward:

"A lifetime in Zartacla prison."

The sisters turned paled as Ravess continued the conversation, "You see, the oldest will have far better knowledge than anyone who was younger than her. And since you are the poorest student and a bad influence, it seems fair to be in prison for you. I bet you are starting to regret playing that horn now, are ya?" Yes, Emma regretted playing the trumpet, but she was more angry than depressed. They had used them for their own means, and they were tossing aside her like some broken toy. She was a breathing, thinking, living being; not some tool. She had forgotten the other variables and charged towards the Dark Ace with blind rage.

"You bastard! **YOU BASTARD!!**" the girl yelled, as she was about to punch the man. He just stood there, as the others watched. Before the teen could get a chance, he took out a strange device with a crystal infused in it, and he thrust it at her. It was almost like a taser, as it sent a thousand bolts of electricity through the attacker. She fell to the flood, knocked-out. Katie was about to run to her, but two grunts blocked her path.

She was getting mad as she yelled, "Let me go! My sister needs help!" The Dark Ace frowned and approached her, grabbing her arm for restraint. The other two Talon commanders walked over to the sedated girl and picked her up.

The raven-haired man glared at the older sister and said, "If you want your sister to stay alive, then I suggest you stop fighting." She complied, looking at her younger sibling. The giant held her in a crushing grip, while the woman held her arrow next to her neck. The eldest sighed, not wanting to be the one who will kill her sibling.

The Dark Ace smiled and said, "Good girl." Then, he turned to the faction and commanded, "You two, get the other one on the ship, and bring her stuff. The rest of you, get the ship ready for launch." Then, he left, carrying the broken-hearted girl with him.

The Talons saluted and started to do their jobs; the grunts with fixing the ship up for departure and the commanders with escorting Emma into her "Travel deluxe suite". When they got there, they gently put her on the floor, along with her things. If you think that throwing her down was gentle, well that's what they did.

"Snipe!" Ravess yelled, as she slapped her brother on the back, "Don't throw her down, you idiotic oaf!" He growled, but let it slide. It was his sister for heaven's sake. He closed the door as the two started to leave the ship.

"I'm going to miss her, Ravess." the giant said out loud, "Even if she was a girl and a pain in the neck, I wanted to at least fight her. She would be fun to break." The woman rolled her eyes and scoffed. She was glad that the brat was leaving for prison. After the violin mishap, she wanted her to suffer.

Unfortunately, in her moment of anger remembrance, the female commander didn't notice Snipe stopping another Talon. The grunt didn't know why his commander wanted to talk to him. Maybe it was just some idiotic command.

"Okay, for something this important, don't go the usual route to Terra Zartacla. The stupid sky knights might try to attack it and figure out our plan." The man said, as crossed his arms, "Instead go through Kraken's pass." The talon raised an eyebrow in response.

"Kraken's pass, sir?" the peon asked, confused by the request. Why would it be easier to go through Kraken's pass? It was a deathtrap in most legends, with all the fog and colossal land masses. And it was way off the path.

The giant stiffened up and said, "Yes, Kraken's pass, and that's an order!" Then, he walked away. The soldier stood there, before going off to tell the captain about the new change course.

As the two commanders left the ship, it took off and into the world of Atmos. On it was an earth girl who didn't know anything about it. Though the people didn't know it, these two worlds would collide in the ultimate test of survival.

* * *

Authors' Note:

I made up Kraken's Pass and the Sevare Crystal. Sevare is a Latin noun that means "to watch". I couldn't figure out what else to call because a "Watcher" Crystal just sounds… Weird.

Kraken's Pass was the only name I could think up that would (mostly) strike fear in hearts everywhere. Why? Because the creators used Leviathan for the eight-armed sky monster. A sea serpent is a Leviathan; a kraken is a giant octopus. Thank you for reading this common mistake that most people seem to use.

The next chapter will have the Storm Hawks in it. That's what most people want to see. Sorry it took too long to get there. What waits for the team and character in Kraken's pass?!

Please Read and Review! If you don't, no chapter 4.


	4. Chapter 4: Kraken's Pass

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners

_Chapter 4: Kraken's Pass_

It was a quiet and peaceful night. All of Atmos was in a steady trance in calmness of dark. While a few stayed up for the nightlife, some still sleep. Others, however, still have the anxiety of fear.

The example of the latter one was twitching uncontrollably in front of a canyon.

Stork was annoyed; annoyed by the fact that his team decided to take a shortcut through one of the dangerous places in the entire world. Sure, it wasn't in the top ten of his things to be avoided in Atmos, but it was close. He wanted to say something, but oh no, no one listens to the paranoid merb pilot.

As his team knew, Stork was a merb. And as a merb, he displayed typical merb behavior. Paranoia, fear, and timid was all merbs were. That's how they invented the best gadgets. Of course, no one believed them when it came to superstitious stuff. He sighed, as he bangs covered his right eye.

Stork was green-skinned with black hair and typical, non-mammal, yellow eyes. He was hunched over slightly but was tall when he stood up straight. The clothing her bore was brown shirt and pants, with mismatch armor plates all over his body. Pointed, pierce ears, four-fingered hands, and three-toed feet made him one of the many different races that made up Atmos.

The pilot grumbled something, before hearing the door opened. It was a human boy, teenager in age. He had red, spiked hair and green eyes. The boy wore patch-worked red and blue shirt, with blue pants, being covered up by mismatch plates of armor. He smiled as he looked at the merb. Stork hated that smile; it meant doom.

"Stork, what's our status?" the boy asked, as he looked at the pilot. The said-pilot turned to the child, with him being sixteen and the merb twenty. He had his usual look of "Doom is going to get us".

"Oh nothing much, Aerrow," he said, before adding, "We haven't started our journey to our deaths yet." The anthro twitched uncontrollably, as he smiled creepy at the kid. The boy, called Aerrow, just gave him a freaked-out look.

The teen boy stood there and said, "Okay…" Suddenly, another door opened to reveal a tanned human girl with orange eyes. She also had blue hair that stood up and had an orange headband in it. The girl was wearing blue shirt and pants, with a neck that had a crystal on it. She was carrying a bunch of maps with her.

"Okay, Aerrow, we have some maps, so it will be easy to navigat-" the girl said, before noticing Stork's strange behavior. She turned to the human boy and asked, "What's wrong with Stork?"

The sky knight looked at the girl and answered, "Nothing, Piper. He just thinks the usual doom." The teen girl, Piper, sweatdropped and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay…" she said, before setting the maps on the table, "I'll help guide him through the pass, these maps are very old but still good."

The boy smiled and started to walk away, but heard Stork said, "Fine… But if we meet our doom in Kraken's Pass, my ghost will be saying, "I told you so."." Aerrow sweatdropped as he put a hand through his hair.

"O-kay." He said, before leaving, as the Condor started to move through the treacherous canyon of Kraken's Pass.

* * *

"Ohhhhh…" Emma woke up, still paralyzed from the taser. The earthling realized that she was lying on the floor of some unknown room. She tried to move her arms and feet in order to stand. They were wobbling, but she started to move fine after a few minutes.

She looked around the room, realizing that it metallic and bare. The only thing in her room was her bag. No bed, no desk, nothing but her bag and a door. The girl moved over to the door and tried to open it. It was lock; what bad luck.

Suddenly, memories of her and her sister started to flood back. Almost making it to the cargo ship, getting caught, and then being tasered by the Dark Ace was coming back to the child. Then, she realized that they had won. The Talons had her sister and they were going to use her for their twisted invasion of Earth. So, she did what any sore loser who was born under the year of the Dragon would do.

She screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

* * *

The Talons on the bridge listened to the scream of something that was very angry or very hungry. The group was scared of the call because of where they were. Kraken's pass was known for its unknown dangers. If that scream was one of them, then they weren't safe.

Suddenly, a sound beacon was heard as all Talons froze in their stance. They were afraid of that beacon came from something they all fear. Some still didn't believe it, but the Cyclonians knew there was something more terrifying than they; something that wasn't even human.

A few moments of silence started to calm them, but suddenly a crash was heard as it shook the entire Destroyer. The alarm was blazing, and everyone was in a panicked. This was a bad situation.

"SIR! We're under attack!" A Talon yelled, as he was trying to stand up, but the constant blasts made it impossible. All the others glared at him. He was stating the obvious.

Then, two tremors shook the ship as it started to move sideways. All the talons got up and started to move, grabbing their staves. They needed to get ready for what's up ahead.

They got to the entrance of the ship, as it was being cut opened in a big circle. The soldiers stood their ground. They were part of a magnificent and superior army, and they won't let anyone try to take it over. Even if the intruders were the most feared in the Atmos, they would not let them capture their Destroyer.

Unfortunately, that was easier thought than done, as the door fell down. The Talons tensed up, ready to attack. But nothing came in through the entrance. They started to loosen up a little bit, but that all change when a purple blast came and hit one of the Cyclonians. He fell down, completely fainted. The others turned to their worst nightmare come true.

The Murk Raiders.

* * *

Emma was on her seventh try of breaking down the door in order to escape. Sure, it was hard on the first few, but it would be loose by those first. She was by the edge of her room, before running at a good, fast speed. Then, she tackled the door, hoping that it would budge this time. But it didn't as she fell to the floor.

The girl was getting tired of this. The Talons were serious about her going to prison for a lifetime, but she wasn't going to give up. Her sister was being used by their sick experiments. Even if she didn't like it, a sister is still a sister by blood and heart. And she didn't want anyone to dissect Katie for her last moments.

The teen got up and started to think, before hearing some footsteps. She smiled evilly before getting her bag. She hid behind where the door would be if opened. These Cyclonians were idiots. So, if they figure out that the girl escaped, they would leave and forget to lock the door. It seemed so perfect that she had forgotten that they were other variables as well.

The door got opened and slammed in Emma's face. She winced, but it was just minor pain. Just out of curiosity she wanted to see what the Talons were doing. But she paled at the sight she saw.

In front of her were two midget-sized creatures. They were brownish skinned, with only three-fingered hands and three-toed feet. Their eyes were non-mammal yellow and they wearing clothes that made them look like pirates. They reminded her of zombies, since they had no outward noses and looked alien-like. Out of all the things the child hated, it was zombies.

The pirates looked around the room, probably for treasure. They looked and looked until they saw every nook and cranny in the place. Since there was nothing special, they left, leaving the girl behind and the door opened.

Emma started to move out of her hiding place and peeked out into the hallway. It was empty, but she didn't want to take a chance of not being caught. She sighed as she sat down, thinking of something to do.

Then, she noticed the air vent on the wall. The mind of the teen started to work out as she remember various moments of vent climbing from TV shows and her life on Cyclonia. Feeling that she had enough experience, she took out a screwdriver she found back on the Terra and kept for reasons like this. Then, she started to unscrew the bolts from the vent. After that, she took down the vent guard and started to climb into the air duct. Even though the girl hated it, she needed to get off this ship.

* * *

"Hey! Look what I can do with this blaster!"

"Be careful! That thing is-" Bang! "Unstable…"

The blonde, teenage boy stared at the crater he made in the in the Condor. Then, he looked at the newly-designed blaster with her blue eyes. Then, he turned to his buddy and said, "Let's not tell Stork about this, okay?"

"Okay, Finn." said a rhino/human-like creature said, as he smiled. He had spiky, green hair and gray eyes. His horn was small, but still sharp. He wasn't the biggest one in his race, but still big enough to tower the boy, Finn. His name was Junko and he was a Wallop.

The sharpshooter smiled, before turning to an opening door. Aerrow entered the docking bay for skimmers. He looked around and noticed the hole in the wall. He had a confused look on his face as he turned to the two.

"Ummmm… What happen here?" the boy asked, holding his hands up. The two looked at him, the other human boy smiling innocently. The sky knight knew that it had something to the blonde.

The teen continued to smile and said, "Oh nothing…" He looked so innocent that he had a halo above his head. Either that or he stole a hanger and mended it into a halo. Anyway, it meant that he did something to cause that hole. But Aerrow shrugged it off; it can be mended.

Suddenly, a furry creature landed on the sky knight as he tried to grab it. It was bright blue, with long ears and a tail. But unlike a normal animal, however, it wore clothing. It was small enough to be confused for a cat. It smiled innocent as the red-haired boy caught him.

"Radarr, there you are." he said, as the creature, Radarr, screeched. Then, it hopped onto Finn, who now was trying to catch the animal now. The other boy laughed at this. This was what life was on the Condor, and he wouldn't have it any other way. These people were his friends, his family. And nothing was going to change that…

Nothing…

Suddenly, a broadcast came on as Stork's voice entered the hanger, saying, "Everyone, please come to the bridge. Our doom seems to be calling us now." All the guys blinked, as they turned to one another. Finn, being the laidback one, decided to go first.

"Come on, let's go see what Stork is scared about now." he said, as he walked out of the room. Soon, he was followed by the wallop and the cabbit. The sky knight thought and then followed the rest of the gang. It was probably nothing…

But then again, not everything is as they appear…

* * *

A few moments before the call, back on the Cyclonian ship, Emma was crawling through the vents. She was looking for a way off or at least something to get away from here. Not only there were Talons on the ship, but sky pirates as well. And she didn't want to meet them.

Now, the girl watched many pirate movies, including the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, and there were three things pirates like. Those things were treasure, booze, and wenches. She was the last of the things pirates like and there was no way she wasn't going to give up like that. But she was defenseless and still weak from the taser, so there was no use fighting. So, it was best to hide for now.

Suddenly, she heard something from her far left. The teen started to crawl to the source and peeked out from one of the vents. Outside was the hanger bay, filled with those zombie pirate people. Other than the midgets, there was a fat one with a one eye and peg leg, and a slimmer one with a skull-blaster for a hand. Both their dark hair was tied, but the skinnier one had his up-right then down. All of them were surrounding the remaining Cyclonians, who looked scared as heck.

Emma was about to crawl away, but heard something else. "Now, now, looky what we have here." A voice said, in a Scottish accent with a hint of Irish. She turned her head to see another pirate, taller, muscular than the others and much more dignified. His black hair was in dread locks, but most of it was lost, leaving the top of his head bald. His clothes were as different, but he had on armor like the other too. He was missing an eye, but didn't bother to put a path over it, as it was on a scar that covered almost his left face. There was a metal claw that replaced his left arm, seemingly to be robotic. The girl cowered at the sight of this man.

The creature stopped before looking at the Talons. He smiled evilly before saying, "A bunch of brave souls, trying to make it through Kraken's Pass, eh?" Then, he rose up his claw and asked, "Must be carrying something important to go up against the Murk Raiders."

"Murk Raiders?" muttered the earthling, as she continued to watch the man. He started to inspect the prisoners as they trembled. He stopped as his head turned to a really scared Talon. The captain, from her viewpoint, moved closer to the human, giving him the evil eye. Then, he cackled very loudly, as the Cyclonians cowered even more.

"This is a good lot, boys! Put them upon the Blood Crow until we make back to Terra Deep!" the man said, as all the other Murk Raiders laughed. Then, they started to load up the prisoners, who were yelling and scrambling to get away. But it was all in vain, as they disappeared into the mist-covered door. Emma gawked from the sight.

Then, the leader of the pirates turned to the rest of them and commanded, "Search the cabin, see if there is anything else to plunder!" The others obeyed, as they started to knock over crates filled with crystals and other what-not. The girl didn't care about that; somehow it made her feel uncomfortable. She started to crawl away, looking for another way out.

The captain heard some scratching, and turned his head to the vents. He saw nothing, but suspected something. "Eyeball… Are you sure we got all of them?" he asked, still looking at the wall. The fat one, Eyeball, blinked and walked over to the pirate, blinking at the wall.

"We're sure, captain! We got all the crew on the ship!" he said, turning to his leader. He noticed that the muscular man continued to stare at the outlet. He didn't know what was running through his mind, but he knew it was something big.

The muscular man looked at his shipmate and said, "When the others get back, make sure to make them look through the entire ship again." The other one saluted and started to go back to plundering, leaving the pirate in thought. Something else was on this ship, and it was alive.

* * *

Aerrow, Finn, Junko, and Radarr made it to the bridge looking at Piper in question. The girl looked at them, worried. Then, she turned to Stork, who looked very paranoid. He was staring at the transmitter, which was broadcasting a strange message in a girl's voice.

"Hey! Can anyone hear me?! S.O.S! S.O.S!" it called, with crackles at the end. The group understood the first part, but the last was strange. Was it code or another language? And what did it meant?

Finn, realizing that the voice was female, ran over to the radio and picked it up. Then, he said, "This is Finn, sharpshooter and single, speaking. How may I be of service? Chika Cha." This response got the sharpshooter a slap from Piper, who grabbed the receiver before he could get it back.

"Sorry about that. This is Piper of the Storm Hawks speaking." she said, trying to sound professional. She didn't notice the glare from the blonde, but when she did, she just gave him a sassy smirk.

A silence filled the room as the girl came back on. "Can you guys do rescue missions?" she asked, sounding worried. It was like she never heard of the squadron before. This was very strange for a newly popular team.

"Yes," said Piper, as she continued down, "We also do recon, exploration, undercover missions, -"

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!!" the voice yelled, "There are undead sky pirates on the ship and they are probably looking for more survivors! I don't really want to be caught and dragged onto their ship for who-knows-what. Just find me and get me out of here!" The whole room was filled with silence, blinking in confusion. The girl interrupted the specialist during her sentence. The group thinking that the caller was rude, she came back on the line saying, "Sorry about that."

This time it was Aerrow's turn to speak as he put out his hand towards Piper. She handed him the phone as he said, "It's okay. By the way you sound; time is an issue at the moment. Now, can you describe where you are so that we or another Sky Squadron can get you?" It was said in nice, soft tone, which seemed to make the person calm down on the other side.

"Okay… I'm in the communication room… I think… on a big ship… I sorta got tasered so I don't know where I am physically." the voice said, sounding dumbfounded. That wouldn't work, so plan B.

"Fine then, look for the Timepulse code on the ship. It should be in where you are in case of emergency like this. We'll use that to track you." The sky knight replied, sounding like a true leader. It was quiet for a moment until some rummaging was heard in the background.

"Not very organized, is she?" Stork muttered, as he continued to navigate carefully through the foggy canyon. Only the wallop and creature heard him as their ears were much keener than a human.

"Come on, Stork. She must be a passenger. Don't be so hard on her." Junko said, trying to be a nice guy. The pilot rolled his eyes. Out of all the hardheaded, mean wallops in the history of Atmos, this one was the one trying to find peace in the universe. Talk about irony.

"Okay, I found it…" the voice said, a little by happier than normal. But before she could continue, she pauses for a moment. And then, she said, "Wait."

"Yes?" Aerrow asked, raising an eyebrow. This person was strange. If time was a factor then why didn't she read the Timepulse code first?

The voice breathed in before saying, "If you guys were to rescue me, or if we meet again, face-to-face, can you say or do something that will remind me of this conversation. I want to see you guys. You sound… Interesting." The squad blinked before looking at each other. Then, their leader shrugged and turned back to receiver.

"Okay, we say it," he answered, "Or at least something liked that." The girl on the other side sounded relieve as she was about to reply back.

"Okay, it's-" she said, before a noise came into the background. It sounded like a blast as footsteps came into the radio also. Then, two new voices entered also.

"Hey! She's calling someone!"

"Well, that's not fair! Get her!"

Next, some fighting sounded on the line and then a crash. Afterwards, there was a very long beep. Everyone in the room paled; Plan B was gone, so it was time for Plan C.

"Stork, use the tracer to find out where that came from." Piper commanded, acting as leader now. The merb turned to her with non-surprised look on his face. He still was steering nicely.

"Already did." he said, as he continued to steer. Finn looked at him with his usually look.

"So, where is she?" he asked, as he relaxed. If his stars were correct, he might meet some gorgeous babe in distress. The blonde was just a regular narcissist.

The lights started to flicker as Stork turned his whole body towards to group. He smiled evilly as he said, "It came from… Kraken's Pass."

* * *

Emma was very, very, very scared. She found a communication room and called for help. And just when she was about give them the Timpulse-thingie code, two sky pirates blasted down her barricaded door and smashed the radio. Karma must have had it out to her.

With her back to the wall, the girl stared at her attackers. She was petrified, but tried hard to repress that feeling. She needed to think of a plan to get out of this situation. She looked at the two and started to weigh her options.

Talking wouldn't work, since these were ignorant pirates and not the ones like Jack Sparrow. The teen could distract them, but they blocked the entrance. There was also the option of fighting them, but can she take on two pirates with purple glowing knives? 'Probably not.' she thought, remembering that in all her martial arts and Talon training, there was no knowledge of hand versus weapons training.

There was also another option, but should she take it? The buccaneers were approaching and there wasn't anything else. She had to risk it. While straitening herself up, she looked directly at the two and said what people say when facing against a pirate.

"Parley!"

* * *

Stork grumbled as he steered to where he traced the signal. Oh, why didn't his crewmates listen to him? He was older, and with age comes wisdom or so they said. So, it would be wise enough to listen to the pilot's words. But no, Aerrow wanted to save the mysterious girl before anything bad could happen to her. By now, it was already too late.

Parking the ship behind a safe place, he saw two shadowy objects in the mist. By the tracer, this was where the call was made; hence the shadowy figures were the ships the person could be on. That was if she wasn't…

"Stork! Are we there yet?" It was Aerrow's voice. The fearless leader was in the hanger bay with the other five that were heading to their place of doom. The merb sighed, as he turned on the speaker.

"Yes, we're there." He called, "If you called heading for our demise here, then it's straight ahead." Stork waited until a reply came.

"Okay! Open the hatch!" the sky knight's voice commanded. The merb sighed as he pulled down the lever. The hatch opened as he saw four minor-vehicles fly through the mist towards the ship. Now, the pilot thought on how the rest of the crew was going to do this mission. Probably the usual barge and attack method, a sure way to kill oneself.

But the bright side was that he could keep everyone's stuff.

* * *

Captain Scabulous growled as he stared at the loot. It was nothing but common crystals on this ship. For a fine crew like he found, there should be at least something valuable on the Destroyer. But it was just cheap junk. Kicking down a random crate, he said, "You called this plunder! I've seen better garbage than this!"

The others cowered at their leader; they have never seen him like this. Sure, there were times when the captain was upset or mad, but that was when something bad had happen that caused him to lose something. But this was a new level for him. Maybe if nothing else ghastly happen, he would cool down and go back to Terra Deep for rum.

It would have happen if two Murk Raiders came back. They got hold of a girl wearing strange clothes. She also had long, golden brunette hair and blue eyes. She looked very angry at the two for they were grabbing her arms very tightly. One of them smiled and called, "Captain! We found something!"

The lead Murk Raider turned to Emma and then repulsed in disgust, or that what the earthling thought. "You found a civilian?! You know we only need those with flight experience on them!" The others inched back, afraid that he might do something wrong. The girl puffed her cheeks out in response; she wasn't going to be afraid of some man no matter how ugly and undead he looks.

The two other paled as one of them retorted, "But captain! She invoked the right of Parley!" That's when everyone went silent. Scabulous turned his head to the human now, an interested glint in his eyes. He walked up to her, as the other two let go and walked back to the rest of the group. She didn't move for fear she might upset him.

"And how do you know of Parley?!" the pirate leader asked, as he stared directly into the child's eyes. She felt nauseated from his breath, but she tried her best to stand up. Why would this guy want to know how she knew of a simply word? She could tell that she saw it in movie back on Earth, but she didn't trust him.

Thinking that it would be best to play dumb, she said, "Pfft, everyone knows of Parley. Who doesn't?" He seemed to buy it by the way he didn't response. But then, he smiled a sharp-toothy smile.

"I see…" he said, before examining her closer. Emma started to move away, but only a couple of inches. This was really freaky. First, the pirate freaks out. Then, he asked her how she knew a somewhat fake word. Now, he's looking at her like some a judge looking at a prize pig. She didn't know what he wanted and she didn't want to find out the hard way.

The man smiled even more as he reared back, and then he turned to one of the Murk Raiders and commanded, "Get me the box from my quarters. It should be on my desk." The girl took her chance to run away as all the pirates were staring at the captain. Unfortunately, they noticed her sneaking away as the captain ordered the rest, "Get her!"

They immediately took action and tackled the teen. Feeling their weight, especially of the fat one, she was being crushed and tried to struggle up. She was lifted and retained by them, around her legs and arms. When the other buccaneer came back, he held up a chest to Scabulous. The other pirate opened it and took out a small, blue crystal that was hanging on a string.

"As much as I would like to check in the chest, I will be a gentleman for once. So, we'll use her hand." The leader said, as the others snickered. Eyeball grabbed her arm and forced it out towards his captain, as he slowly made his way, with the crystal in his claw. Emma gulped as she thought that this was it. No way out of it, she wouldn't be able to save her sister or meet the people she contacted or get back home; it was hopeless. But she will face her fate with repressed fear and dignity. So, she closed her eyes and waited.

And waited…

… And waited…

'Sure is heck that they're taking their time.' she thought, as she opened her right eye to see what the Murk Raider was doing. She noticed that he wasn't trying to put her to sleep, but moving the crystal a half an inch around her. For a pirate, he sure was not too hasty.

Suddenly, a glyph started to appear on the girl's hand. It had weird writing on it that wasn't in any language she had ever seen. And inside the middle of the circle was a gemstone that looked cut. They were all in a green, laser-like light as the crystal hung over it. The muscular man smiled, as he put the back into the pocket.

The other Murk Raiders stared at the glyph and snickered. The human stared at the glyph as it started to disappear. "What does that mean?" she asked, continuing to stare at her hand.

"It means you're the most valuable thing in all of Atmos!" Scabulous said, as he started to cackled. Soon, his whole crew started to cackle as well. Emma paled, as the laughter continued. She was now an object to them; just something to show off. She couldn't have any freedom anymore.

The pirate leader stopped laughing and turned to his crew. "Take upon the ship, boys," he called, "We'll take back with us." Now, this was really it. The human girl was really had lost her freedom to be a wench. If she didn't have the willpower, she would have let the tears she was holding back out. She wanted to fight these pirates, but she couldn't; she was weak.

But just before the Murk Raiders could do anything, an explosion was heard from the front of the hanger bay. Everyone turned to it to see who else was joining the party. Once the smoke clear, there were five figures in the entrance: a red head boy, a blonde teen with a crossbow, a tanned girl, a… Rhino anthro, and a blue cabbit? What were these guys?

"Alright! We're here to-!" red head said, before noticing the zombie pirates staring at them. He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Okay, all I see is-"

"MURK RAIDERS!" the other three (Radarr screeched) yelled, as they activated their weapons. The pirates cried for battle as they activated their weapons as well. Soon, it was a full-out battle. The teen decided it was a best time to hide behind a bunch of opened crates.

Out of danger, the girl watched the brawl with amazed eyes. The newcomers were either really good or the sky pirates were really horrible. The blonde was using his bolts from a very high standpoint to knock down the short ones. The rhino was not only using his busters, but the sneezes he had been getting when one of the pirates comes really close to her. The blue-haired girl was using her staff to defend herself until an opening was made. When it was, the tanned girl hit it with immerse power, but the earthling felt that it came from the Crystal on her staff. The blue furry she saw just chased any pirate near it.

But she was really amazed at the red-haired boy she saw. His movements, his fighting style… It made it seem like he was flying. With his two glowing knives, he repelled the Murk Raiders one by one. In fact, one of the pirates fell down and his cutlass went near Emma's feet.

She stared at it, with a hidden desire of using it. These people were fighting and they were outnumbered. Even if the pirates were lousy fighters, it wouldn't long before the other group started to get tired. She decided to pick up the pirate knife and started to fight.

Of course, she let her anger controlled her and as in blind rage, she started to swing violently around and running wild. The pirates took noticed and started to run away. Treasure was nice, but life always outweighs gold any day. They started to run back to the ship, not wanting to lose their life to a raging lunatic.

The Storm Hawks also noticed the strange girl going ballistic, but with her eyes closed, she couldn't tell if they were gone or not. The four teens and cabbit dodged it until the red head got bored and blocked it. The person opened her eyes and stared at him. Seeing that she was attacking someone who was supposed to be her ally, she blushed and said, "Sorry."

The boy smiled and said, "It's okay. Anyway, are you the rescuer who sent out a distress signal?" Emma nodded as she looked down. "Good. We're the group you contacted a while back." He spoke, before continuing, "I'm Aerrow. Over there is Finn, Junko, Piper, and my co-pilot, Radarr. We're the Storm Hawks." She smiled a bit as she looked towards the rest of the group. But she stopped when she heard a very familiar cackle.

Everyone looked up to see Scabulous standing ontop of some crates, with a purple-glowing saber in hand. He jumped down and attacked Aerrow, as the earthling jumped out of the way. The sky knight blocked, and thrust the captain back. The older man looked as the boy and his friends joined him. He smiled evilly as he said, "One against five… I like those odds nicely."

"Same here." the redhead retorted back, as he was getting ready to attack. It was like a western showdown, only without the guns. But before anyone could attack… Clang! The pirate straightened up as he looked directly at the group.

"Now, that's hurts." he said, before fainting. Behind him was the crazy teen, with a crate in her hand. The group stared at her before she could notice.

"… What? I'm having a really bad day!" she said, as the Storm Hawks sweatdropped. They decided to past that fact since it could have been a bad experience for her. If only they knew…

"Whoa, easy there now. We don't want to hurt you." said the rhino anthro, Junko if she remembered correctly. The rest looked at Scabulous, who seemed to have a happy look on his face. Maybe being bashed in the head did him some good.

Piper looked at the pirate and said, "It helped, but he'll be up again shortly." That meant that they should leave now. The squadron started to leave, but not before Finn noticed something and grabbed it. The earthling blinked, before thinking of what to do next. These kids were younger than her. Heck, she was almost to her twenties. Did she really want to trust a bunch of kids she met?

'Yes, yes I do.' She thought, as she started to follow them. The team knew much more about the world than her and she didn't want to be here when the Murk Raiders came back. The good side to this was that they weren't Cyclonians.

Later, the other sky pirates came out and stared at their captain. He was starting to come to, as his eye opened. He looked at his crew as he asked, "What happened?"

Eyeball looked Scabulous and said, "Sorry, Captain, but they escaped." He looked down, as the other man glared at him.

"And where were _you_ when they escaped?!" the lead pirate exclaimed, as the others cringed. They were about to answer, but he said, "Nevermind, we get back to the ship and traced down those black-hearted sky knights!" This got all the Murk Raiders back to their usual, care-free selves. They all started climb back to the Blood Crow, getting ready to look for where they were boarding.

But Captain Scabulous was hiding fury for the Storm Hawks. There was no way he would let them get away with prize thrice.

* * *

Stork waited on the Condor, carefully hiding in the mist. It has already been nineteen minutes since the crew left, and they still haven't came back. It wouldn't be longer before he would win a bet with himself. And if his calculations were correct, doom has already fallen on his friends.

"Stork, get us out of here, now!" commanded Aerrow, as he and the others entered the bridge. The merb grumbled something before turning to them. He was expecting to see the disorganized girl, but was surprised not to see her.

Seeing no harm in asking, the pilot questioned, "So, where is the little disaster maker?"

Finn looked over at Stork and blinked. "She's… Frozen to my skimmer." he answered, as the helmsman raised an eyebrow in confusion at the blonde. Did he accidentally blast the girl while on his skimmer? Probably yes.

"We'll explain later," Piper interrupted Stork's train of thoughts before continuing, "We just need to get out now. Before the Murk Raiders find out where we are." Suddenly, the whole room went silent as the specialist said that. The merb had his usual twitch in his eye.

"Wait. Did you say-?!" he began, before hearing a sneeze. Then, he turned to Junko, who had red eyes and a runny nose. That could only mean two things: one, they have landed themselves in a Sky Shark's nest. Or two:

There really were Murk Raiders here.

Not wanting to take a chance with either two, the pilot started to make the Condor go at full speed out of Kraken's Pass. It was only a few minutes that the ship started to get hit by blasters. The most fearsome sky pirates were behind their small ship, and they were gaining. Now Stork really wished that they hadn't gone into one of the top fifty things to be avoided in all of Atmos.

"Stork! Can you make it go faster?!" asked Aerrow, who was trying to stand up. But the continuous blows made it too hard to stand up.

"Can't," Stork answered, before he continued, "If we had a Velocity Crystal, maybe we can make it."

"That's convenient." Finn said, before he was holding one up, "I manage to find one on that ship." Then, he looked at the others, as they had surprised look on their faces. "… What?"

Aerrow sighed as he commanded, "Piper! Help Finn get the Velocity Crystal in place! Junko! Give us coverfire!"

"On it!" the wallop said, before sneezing. Then, he went over to a cannon holster and started to blast back at the Murk Raider. The sky knight hoped it would just be enough to get out.

* * *

"They're firing back, Captain!" said a random Murk Raider, as Captain Scabulous stared directly ahead. There was pure determination in his eyes as he wasn't going to lose something as valuable as that girl. There was only one of her in the world, and he should be the one to have it; not some spoiled brats!

As the Blood Crow drew closer, the captain's eyes widened. The small ship was almost out of Kraken's Pass. He commended the Storm Hawks to that. Too bad he wouldn't escape his grasp again.

But suddenly, the Condor flew past their grip as fast speed once they had gotten out of the terrifying place. All the pirates stared blankly in place. Their prey got away again.

Eyeball blinked and turned to the Scabulous, asking, "Captain, are you already?" The captain seemed worst of it all. He had the same look from when he realized he couldn't get any gold from Vapos.

Suddenly, the captain screamed very loudly,

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

* * *

Emma had blackout once on riding with Finn. Before that, she had to choose which ride she would be on. She didn't chose Piper because the brunette was afraid that her hair would get caught, or Junko because of the weight issue, or Aerrow because he already had Radarr and she would be uncomfortable. So, Finn was her last choice, even if he was a narcissist.

But when the Storm Hawks got out; her acrophobia started to act up as the girl held the skimmer. She stared at clouds below her with fearful eyes. It was just before she made to their ship that she fainted entirely. At least she was on some form of ground.

While she was paralyzed with fear, she overheard the voices of her saviors talking,

"Dude, she's still fainted."

"Shut up, Finn."

"Wow, she almost look normal when she's asleep."

'Normal…?'

"I believe it would be wise to throw her on a random, deserted terra where she would never try to infect everyone with her parasites."

'Hey!'

"Stork, that's not very nice."

"So, how are we going to wake her?"

"Maybe that thing… You know… Where two people… share some air, you know?"

Emma instantly shot her eyes up, as she saw the blue furry from before sitting on her. 'Dang it, they really meant to do CPR!!' she thought, as she yelped. The creature yelped also, as it ran behind Aerrow's leg. It stared at her as she stared back. It looked like a weird cabbit, but she knew it wasn't.

"Well, she's awake. Can we leave her on a deserted terra now?" a new, depressed sounding voice said, as the brunette turned to green, gecko/mammal-like creature with black hair. For her, it reminded her of Zelgadis from Slayers. Almost same look and almost same personality, but his was more depressive action.

Piper glared at the green creature and then turned to the older teen. "Sorry about that, Stork is a little paranoid towards newcomers and other things." she explained, as the other girl look at her. The other then looked back at the merb and blinked. Strange…

"So," The sky knight said, as Emma turned her head towards him, "Who are you and where are you from?" The girl blinked, before thinking. Should she tell them that she was from Earth? And if they do, what would their reaction be? Would they see her as a lunatic and send her to the asylum? And are they the same as the Cyclonians?

But out of all the questions, the earthling felt that she could trust these kids. They have saved her from pirates and that was enough proof that they were good. And they were different from the people she had met before. Breathing in, she had said something that she thought she would never say in this world.

"My name is Emma and I am from Earth."

* * *

Hurray! I got done with really long Chapter Four like a promise. I'll respect people that say it wasn't good because I kinda rushed through it. I also got a favorite story from Cloud-Of-Dreams and a review from jess. I'm pretty sure that there other stories about people from Earth falling into Atmos, so I'm not the first.

Yes, I added the Murk Raiders in this story. I believe they deserve more story than they let on. There is also some Pirates of the Carribean references in there if you squint. I don't own those either. But how did they know about the Cyclonian Ship being there? … I'm not going to tell. You probably figured it out by now.

Also, I made up the glyph and crystal. The crystal I'm not going to tell you about yet. You'll find out later. The glyph, however, is a made-up symbol of Earth. I use a gemstone because a mountain and a tree wouldn't it any good. They seem plain.

If any of the Storm Hawks characters seem out-of-character or if you have any questions, let me know. I'll try to fix it or answer to my best ability.

Please Read and Review!


	5. Chapter 5: The Legend of Gaia

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 5: The Legend of Gaia_

"My name is Emma and I am from Earth."

Everything went silent after the strange girl had said that. The Storm Hawks stared at her with weird eyes. Did she say what they think she said?

"… Excuse me," Piper started, breaking the silence, "Did you say that you were from Earth?" The girl nodded, while looking down.

"… Which means you were born there, right?" asked the sharpshooter, as he raised a confused eyebrow. He got the same response as last time. Soon, everyone paled as they realized what she was.

"… Would you excuse us for a moment?" Aerrow said, as he and the rest of the Storm Hawks ran out. Emma blinked, as she just stood there. Did she say something wrong or was it just a bad coincidence?

* * *

Once all of the squadron was on the bridge, their fearless leader stared at everyone. He had a serious look in his eye, like never that they have seen before. This must have been a serious problem. But then, he switched back to his usual, childlike self and said, "She seems okay, I guess."

Everyone facefaulted and then Stork was the first one to say it, "Do you know what she said, Aerrow." The group turned to him as he continued, "She said that she was undoubtedly, truly, purely a Gaian. And do you know what Gaians do?" Everyone shook their heads as before the merb went onto his usual "We're Doomed" rant.

"THEY'RE GOING TO INVADE US!! First, they send their scouts to see if Atmos is weak enough to conquer, then they send their second wave to infect us with their viruses and parasites. And once we are few in numbers, they'll send their fleet to kill us all. She's probably the second wave and has already infected us with her incurable diseases."

Everyone all stared at Stork with freak-out looks, but Aerrow started to pat his back. "Easy, Stork." he said, "She's just probably a civilian who got to Atmos by accident."

"Yea, Stork. She's probably another person who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when the Murk Raiders came." Finn reassured, but was getting a glare from the pilot. The merb didn't like to be wrong, especially about things that involved doom.

Then, Piper started to add her two cents, "But you realize what she is? She is a Gaian, and in the history of Atmos, there hasn't been any contact here from Gaia since their first war. This is like the biggest thing since… Forever!"

"Are you sure she is a Gaian, Piper?" said Junko, a little bit confused. "She didn't look like a bloodthirsty warrior." Soon, everyone looked at the wallop confused.

"Bloodthirsty warrior? I thought Gaians were under-dwellers?"

"No, they're superstitious, unintelligent beings."

"Actually, they're unsanitary and spread the Black Plague… Whatever that is."

"Raar!"

Soon, the room was silent, as they realized that all the things they heard about Gaians were probably rumors. Since everyone on Atmos believed Gaia was a myth, it was really hard to tell which was true and which wasn't. Most people on different terras had different viewpoints on the world. But since there was a living, breathing Gaian on the Condor, the common legend seemed to be more real than legend.

"Okay, here's the plan," Aerrow said, before he continued, "First, we'll just keep her here for interrogation. We should figure out what's going on if she's a scout or soldier from Gaia." Everyone nodded; that sounded like a great plan. They would be able to see if Gaia wanted to start another war with Atmos. Strange how this world called it that, but there wasn't a second one to continue.

Suddenly, a noise occurred as the squadron turned to see an open door. Soon they had blank looks on their faces. This meant only one thing:

The Gaian overheard their meeting.

* * *

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Emma muttered as she walked down the halls of the Condor. She overheard the Storm Hawks conversation and was now realizing that it was probably bad to say that she was from Earth or Gaia as they called it. Now, worries were starting to build up as she thought of what she would experience.

She didn't want to be their enemy; they had saved her and she wanted to be friends. Also, the girl realized that these kids were better fighters than her, she was humbled to say having experience in Teaknowndo, Kendo, and Talon in her nineteen years. She also didn't want to be interrogated; they never really work because the person being questioned only told what the questioner wanted to hear, not the truth.

Now, she had two choices in the matter to make them believe that she wasn't Gaian as they called her. One was to deny the whole thing and say that they made a mistake. They would probably believe that. The other one was to say that she was crazy. The teen was on some sense, but not crazy enough to be put in an asylum. That was just what these kids would do. So, she was trapped.

"Man, if I ever needed a beer, it would be now." she muttered, as she continued to walk. She had promised herself that if she went into another world; she would drink some form of alcohol. The earthling thought that age limits weren't applicable in other worlds, so she wanted to have some drink and get smashed before doing anything else.

As she continued to walked, Emma felt that she was hungry. Hungry for ramen, pasta, steak, and other foods she liked, she wanted to find the kitchen on the ship. But she was not in Cyclonia anymore and they probably didn't have anything she would like. She sighed as she turned to a random door.

"Well, this is it." she said, as she pressed a button. The girl knew that these doors opened by pressing buttons, since she accidentally pressed one on the door she was listening on. Getting back on subject, she wanted to eat and then tell off the group of teens. There was no way she wasn't going to be pushed around; she had limits.

Unfortunately, the room she opened wasn't the kitchen.

"… OH MY-!!"

* * *

Crash!

"What was that?!" yelled Piper, as she, Aerrow, and Radarr explored a hallway. They started to run to where it occurred. When they got there, they saw Finn and Junko standing outside the wallop's doorway. There was a bunch of metal parts in front of the entrance. The big anthro looked like he was about to cry when he stared at the pile.

"… My collection," he said, as he started to cry. Finn did his best for his buddy and patted his back.

Then, the blonde said, "At least it wasn't eaten by Vulca Bats like last time." That caused even more tears. The sky knight, specialist, and blue furry glared at the sharpshooter as he stared back. "… What?"

Suddenly, there was shuffling sounds as the golden brown-haired Gaian popped out of the mess. She looked half terrified as she started to breathe heavily. Then, she stared the redheaded boy and tanned girl as they stared at her back. Then, she looked over at the crying rhino and blushed.

"Sorry." Emma said meekly, as she sunk herself into the pile. She was totally embarrassed by this; she was older than these kids and she let a bunch of metal objects fall on her. She then hopped out of the disaster area and started to walk away.

Seeing that the Gaian was walking away, Piper said, "Wait, we have so many questions." The other girl stopped and turned to them with a non-expressional look on her face. For some reason, everyone got scared of that.

"Yes, I am from Earth. No, I'm not an under-dwelling, bloodthirsty, somewhat superstitious, unintelligent, warrior who is being used by Earth for bio warfare. And I don't have any deadly diseases that could kill you guys… I think."

Everyone stared at Emma with amazed eyes. She had memorized most of what they said from the conversation she had easedropped at. But there were still some questions that the Storm Hawks had. But she started to speak again.

"Now, here's my question," the brunette started, before asking, "How do you know of Earth, or Gaia as you call it?"

This time, it was Aerrow's turn to answer, "A bunch of legends about it. We don't know which one is true because each came from different terras. So, it was easy to believe that Gaia was just a legend." Then, he walked up to the girl and said, "But with you here, we now know that your world isn't just a myth." The blue-eyed girl smiled a bit as he said that. There were many video games and television shows about other worlds from her place that she wanted to prove there were other worlds out there. And thanks to the portal in Seattle, she just did.

She smiled and said, "Well, for starters, I'm human, like you guys." Then, she stared at the two nonhumans in the room, and sweat dropped. "Mostly." Radarr and Junko stared at them with a raised eyebrow. The older teen explained, "The only intelligent life that walks on two legs, can talk using words and isn't ruled by instinct is human beings. We also have other forms of life, but because of how humans act in order to be superior and how most creatures haven't evolved to a human; the hierarchy of Earth is humans on top, beasts and plants in the middle, and bacteria at the bottom."

That was almost nice. Junko thought he could meet some of his ancestors in order to get questions about how he should act in a wallop society. Radarr just growled; he hated being below and not equal to humans. But soon, the Storm Hawks started to bombard the Gaian with questions.

"What is life like on Gaia?"

"Boring!"

"Are there any hot babes there?"

"Yes, but most of them don't want to be called hot babes literally."

"Do they use Crystal energy?"

"No, we don't have crystals like these ones here."

"Do you have skimmers there?"

"No, but we have motorcycles and planes."

"Raar?!"

"… I'll get back to you on that."

It was only an hour later that Emma answered the four teammates' questions with almost complete accuracy. Since the things she saw were from her view, it was obscure in a way. She was tired from the answering.

"Is that… All?" she asked, as she breathed hard. The Gaian turned to the others, who were smiling politely since they had all their questions answered, except for Radarr, who cursed his ability to only speak using movements. Finn had the biggest smile because he was imagining all the females on Earth. The others were glad that they knew a little bit more about the foreign world.

The browned-hair girl straightened herself up as she inquired, "Okay then, so what is the first war between Earth and Atmos anyway?" Soon, all their smiles faded. Out of all the questions to ask, she had to ask that one. They really didn't want to reawake an ancient rivalry.

"Are you sure about that?" Piper asked, looking very worried. She didn't want to explain how Gaia and Atmos got the way it was to someone from the opposite point of view. She might get angry and do something she didn't want to do. The tanned girl waited for a reply with a worried face.

Emma cracked her knuckles and said, "Yes, I want to know because I deserved the right to know. It's not like forbidden knowledge or anything." She got them there; it wasn't forbidden knowledge. Then, she started to walk to where the bridge was. All the Storm Hawks stared at her with amazed eyes. This girl was a really a stubborn one. They soon followed after her.

"… At least she knows what she wants to hear." said Aerrow, trying to sound optimistic. But the sky knight was worried. If the Gaian was anything like in the stories, then she was loyal to her own world. And loyalty is very hard to break.

* * *

Once on the bridge, everyone was staring at the strangest sight they had ever seen. Stork, being the paranoid merb that he was, felt that the Gaian was a sickly being and decided to put on his biohazard protection suit so he wouldn't die from plague. As the squadron tried to not make anything that would offend the pilot's best efforts of avoiding death, Emma glared at him with a puffed up face.

"Stand back," Stork said, as he continued, "If you come within one inch of my personal space, I shall be prepared to combat your airborne germs of death." Then, he did some twitching-fighting poses, before he went back to piloting the Condor. The brunette sighed. There are some things you can't change, especially if you are dealing with a neat freak.

The rest of the Storm Hawks walked up to the table, as Piper took out a book with the Storm Hawks symbol on it. As the blue-haired girl started to flip through it, Emma walked up and stared at the book.

"So… Why does Atmos have all these symbols?" she asked. Back on Cyclonia, she noticed that several crates didn't have the Talon symbol on them. She also noticed the Raptors not wearing that symbol as well. So, what was with the different symbols?

Aerrow turned to her as he answered, "There are many sky squadrons here, some good and some bad. In order to tell who to trust and who not, we use those symbols. But it sometimes doesn't work out that way." He remembered how the Dark Ace snuck into Great Atmos race by using Terra Xerxxes sky knight disguise. He wouldn't let that happen again.

"That and it is pretty lengthy to write a squad name on a crate." Finn said, trying to sound smart. The Gaian tried her best not to laugh, as the specialist glared at him. The blonde just felt proud for saying that and didn't notice the two girl's behavior.

"… Okay, here it is." Piper said, as she pointing to a place on a page. The brunette looked as she paled. It had fewer pictures, but more of the hard language she couldn't understand. Now, she wouldn't understand the myth between Earth and Atmos.

But her hopes reappear as Piper started to read,

"_Before the age of sky rides and crystal technology, when dragons ruled the skys, Atmos was oblivious to its twin, Gaia. They lived in opposite of each other: With the heavens to explore and the land to travel. As all worlds go, they would remain ignorant of one's knowledge and with that, peace would reign on forever._

"_But it wasn't so, as their inhabitants started to discover that they weren't alone. They realized potential of trading with their opposites and then, they started to travel in between worlds. More prosperity started to grow, but the worlds knew that it wouldn't last forever._

"_Soon, a war started by the Gaian's greed erupted into a mass apocalypse. Atmosians tried to defend their homes, but lives were lost. It was then that a truce shall be formed. If the Gaians stayed on one side, Atmos shall stay on the other and the two worlds would never meet._

"_But the first ruler of Atmos,__Aristarchus__Cyclonis had become fearful of his life since the Oracle had said that his rule shall be taken by one who wasn't one of order of the world. He thought he knew that it meant a Gaian would take his life, so he created several crystals to defend himself; including the Alliance Stone to tell if a person was born of either the air or sky. If the stone shown a symbol of Atmos' wings, one will be safe, but of Gaia's Stone, one shall face death; __Aristarchus was sure that his life will be safe._

"_It had worked until his successor, Kato, decided that all of Atmos shall pay for the last leader's protection. Being a cruel ruler that he was, he had made all of his subjects work in Crystal Mines and forced them to bow before his rule. His ignorance to the Oracle's prophecy was his mistake for he had never taken it seriously._

"_But the Oracle's prophecy had come true as tales of famous Gaian warriors spread throughout the Atmos. The descendents of the warriors who fought the first war told of the warriors of the Earthly plane and how they fought. A millennium later, it reached someone who had decided that it was time that Cyclonis shall fall and soon the Sky Knights were formed. They had started to free terras of the harsh dynasty and formed the Code with one purpose in mind; to protect the Freedom of Atmos and defend anyone who is in Need of Help._

"_As for Gaia, no one knows. No one of Earthly birth has been to Atmos for it was impossible to tell. The Alliance Stone was lost along with many others. If the Gaians came back to Atmos then two paths shall be taken: One of war and devastation, or one of something else…_

"…And that's the Legend of the first Gaia/Atmos World." Piper said, as she closed the book and turned to Emma. "So, what do you think?"

The Gaian sat on the table with thoughts in her head. It seemed plausible for Earth to attack something that was different, especially since the different races here were not as human as they appeared. But something didn't seem right about that myth. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something wasn't right.

Finn raised an eyebrow as he waved a hand in front of the brunette's face, saying, "Gaian… Hello??" The older teen snapped out of it and turned to the others, who were staring at her. Should she say what she thought of now or wait until she had more information? She took the later and started to walk off the bridge. She really didn't need to speak in front of a lot of people of what she thought.

The Storm Hawks watched her retreating form as Junko said, "Maybe she had something else to do." He wanted make the group feel better, but he couldn't take what they were all thinking.

The tanned girl started to panic. "This is really bad." she said, as she shook her head in nervousness. The other girl left, which meant that she was angry. And if she was angry, she might go berserk and destroyed the Condor. And it could easily lead to a war. This was a bad situation indeed.

Stork, who had taken off his biohazard suit because it was too hot, stood there and said, "We're all doomed."

* * *

Emma was in the hanger bay, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about what to say and how to say it about the myth. She hadn't figured it out what made that story seem like a story and she knew that they're was a flaw, the other teens might call her crazy. She sighed; she was doomed either way.

Suddenly, she felt something on her, as she looked up at Radarr. The creature must have followed her to the bridge. She smiled as she started to pet him softly; the furry seemingly to like it.

"Hey, do you think I'm crazy because I'm a Gaian?" she asked it, while continuing to pet. The creature shrugged, acting almost human than animal. The teen smiled as she quietly said, "You're right. I'm still the same level of crazy here than on Earth."

Then, she thought back to Cyclonia and the memories she had of that place. All the things she heard from soldiers about herself. All the things she did that got herself into trouble. All the things that made her isolated from their army, did she really want to feel isolated from the sky squadron for being a Gaian? But something distracted her train of thoughts.

"Hey," A voice called, as she tensed up. She accidentally gripped the blue cabbit by the neck as it screeched. It jumped out of the brunette's hand, tearing off some of its fur. It then ran over to the person who called. The Gaian turned her head and stared at Aerrow, who seemed to be alone at the moment.

Emma blinked before saying to the redhead, "Hey…" Then, she continued to stare at the ceiling. She wasn't in the mood for some conversation, especially when she didn't have the right words. But he seemed very persistent as he walked over to her and stared at her from above.

"What are you doing?" the sky knight asked, as he blinked. It was kinda interesting on how the earthling laid on the floor as if it was like grass. He wondered if all Gaians were like that.

"Thinking." she answered, as she continued to stare. It was as simple as that. She was thinking thus that was her answered.

The boy blinked as he rubbed the back of his head. Maybe the older teen didn't want to talk. He knew it was best to leave her alone, but he asked, "Are you angry at that story?"

The girl sighed as she answered, "I'm not angry at that story. It's just-… It's just I find it hard to believe. It seemed too good to be true here. In history, there are many sides to every story. If that was Atmos' version, then I should hear Gaia's version as well… If there is a version."

The sky knight blinked as he heard that. By the way it sounded, she was older than she looked, and a lot more philosophical. He shrugged as he started to walk off with his copilot beside him, but not before hearing her voice.

"… I have two questions for you." Emma said, as she stood up, "Question one: Do you respond to begging better than asking nicely?" Aerrow shook his head; he didn't like to see a person reduced his or her dignity. He was just nice like that.

Then, the older teen bowed her head and said, "May I stay with you guys?" The sky knight's eyes widened at that. Before he could answer, she explained, "You are the only ones who I have met here that were nice to me. You saved me from pirates who might have done some terrible things. For that, I am grateful."

The boy smiled a bit before she continued, "Not only that, if you leave me somewhere else, I could probably do some pretty nasty damage." She was right about that. Since she was from another place that was different than their's, she might upset someone; probably someone dangerous. He started to think before hearing some familiar voices.

"Yea, you should totally let her stay!" exclaimed Finn, as he and the others popped out from their hiding place. The sky knight looked totally surprised by this, as the Gaian just jumped out of shock. Piper just groaned since the blonde had given their positions away.

"As much as I hate to admit it, we have to keep her." The specialist said, "Any other place will probably make it difficult since she doesn't know anything about this. Besides, I wouldn't mind having another girl onboard."

The Gaian turned to Piper and said, "Sorry, Piper, but I'm sorta not that kind of girl." The tanned girl blinked, not sure what she meant. But maybe it would come together in time.

Then, Stork twitched as he said, "Yea, let some total stranger in that would slaughter us in our sleep. What a great way to die." Emma puffed out her cheeks in annoyance; the merb seemed to like seeing the glass half full. And she wasn't going to kill them silently in their sleep, she didn't know how to.

Junko turned to the pilot and said, "Come on, Stork. She's not a total stranger. She told us her name and where she came from." All the Storm Hawks have completely forgot about that. They were so focused on the Gaian part, they forgotten that she had a name.

Aerrow, wanting to fix that mistake, coughed and said, "Emma, was it?" The brunette nodded as she turned to him. The redhead then smiled as he said, "Well, I guess since there is only one person objecting…" There was a long pause as everyone stared anxiously "… I guess she's staying."

The older teen smiled as she said, "Thank you! You won't regret it! I'll do anything you ask… As long as it doesn't involve high places or let me see the sky." She had to add that incase someone decided to put her up really high. She realized she was on an airship and she was trying to keep her acrophobia in check. If she saw the outside of the ship, she'll probably freak out and fall. And the she didn't want that.

The Storm Hawks, except Stork, gave Emma a group hug in order to make her feel more welcome. She minded it; but, it was a long time before she was hug by someone other than her sister or another family member. For once, she felt the warmth of being in a group and she liked it.

Finn let go as he waved his arms in the air. "Okay! Okay! In honor of having the first Gaian onboard the Condor, let's listen to some of my rock!" he exclaimed, before the rest of the squadron paled. They all agreed that Finn's guitar skills were a little poor. And they couldn't stand how loud he made it. But before they could say no, another voice exclaimed its opinion.

"Okay! I'll listen." said Emma as she smiled. They rest all stared at her with wide eyes; she wanted to hear the sharpshooter's music. They didn't know what to say. They just stared as she and the blonde started to walk away onto the bridge with a surprised look on their faces.

Stork was the first one to speak, "May I remind you that we just let on a dangerous creature that could destroy us within days." Everyone looked at him as he said, "Now, if you excuse me, I have to work on something that would probably keep me alive while she's in." The rest stared at his retreating form and shrugged.

This was just another day for them.

* * *

Okay! This is probably the shortest chapter I have written so far. I would like to thank Alice the Dark Angel and Kitten2007 for reviewing. Also, I would give another thanks to Kitten for faving this story.

For some fun facts, I called Earth the name Gaia because of the ancient Greek goddess of Earth. I also based the Gaia/Earth and Atmos story on the Tales of Symphonia game, which I do not own either. If you want to find out more, play the game. It's fun.

The name, Aristarchus, is deprived from aritos meaning best and arche meaning origin or best. Kato is second of twins in Luganda. Just some fun tidbits for you to know about, heh.

If the chapter really stinks, I apologize. I was going through multiple corrections. At least I got done with it. Also, if you feel offended by it, please remember that it's just a story.

Also, I'm still thinking about what to do about chapter 6. I have an idea about my character meeting the Rex Guardians (I'm not a Harrier fan for all those Harrier fans out there) or the Absolute Zeroes. But I think I could do something better. So, I'm thinking about letting the SH fans send their own OCs into this story or a plot for the next chapter. I know everyone has great characters from the stories I have read. So, if you like this story, please send me your character(s) and/or a plot to my email address or a pm. I'll have a deadline, so if you don't send it in by this Sunday, I'll go with the Rex Guardian or Blizzarian chapter.

Please Read and Review.


	6. Chapter 6: Blizzard or Blizzarian

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 6: Blizzard or Blizzarian?_

The night when Emma met the Storm Hawks and decided to stay with them for while, the squadron was starting to make plans for room. While the Gaian listened to Finn's music, which she liked after listening to it, the others were trying to find a room that wasn't taken. There were a few, but it didn't have any space for the older teen to sleep in. There was only one room that would be perfect, but it was taken by someone else who wasn't with them all the time. So, the brunette slept in the bridge on the table. For someone who didn't have any bedding to sleep on, she was in a deep slumber for the rest of the night.

When the mourning came, Aerrow was the second-to-last one to wake up. He was usually the early bird of the team, but last night was really stressful. Between listening to the sharpshooter's music and finding a room for Emma to sleep, he was tired and worn out. He just needed something to eat and he'll be ready to take on the day if it was a dangerous mission or a stunt-filled practice.

The sky knight made it onto the bridge and turned to see the rest of the team, except for Stork who was piloting, was staring at the Gaian on the table. She still hadn't wake up and looked like she had made a mess of the sheet they have given her. She was teething it, chewing on its fabrics. She must have been dreaming about something, or perhaps it was a nightmare.

Aerrow then turned to Finn and Junko, who was blowing up a balloon. Once the balloon was about the size of an Earth melon, he handed it to the blonde, took out a pin and slowly moved it towards the red inflatable. Then, the leader turned to Piper, who was staring at the situation with a non-satisfied look.

"So… What's going on?" the red head asked, curious to why the blonde and wallop were trying to pop a balloon over the brunette's head. It seemed like one of their normal pranks, but he just wanted to make sure.

The tanned girl turned to the sky knight and answered, "We woke up and found Emma still sleeping on the table. And since we can't eat without a table, Finn came up with a plan to wake her up. But I have a feeling it's not going to end well."

It seemed like it as Finn popped the balloon. The Gaian instantly woke up with a frightful look on her face, her skin also paled. She had a hard gripped over the sheet with her fingers. It looked like she had seen a ghost.

As she regained color and sense, Emma turned to the group, who were waiting for her reaction. She noticed the broken balloon in the blonde's hair, as both he and the wallop were ducking from some sort of future negative response from the girl. She could hit both of them, but shrugged it off, knowing that the thing was a harmless prank.

"… Why are you guys staring at me?" the older teen asked, before realizing that she was still on the table. The group's expression of hungry showed her. Knowing that, she got off while blushing with embarrassment. "Sorry."

"It's okay," said Piper, as she patted the Gaian on the back, surprising getting her to move away. "Finn is just an immature brat and Junko usually follows him around."

"Hey!" yelled Finn, as he pointed his finger at the tanned girl. Even if he acted like an immature brat, he didn't want to be treated like that. He continued to glare, even though no one notice.

Emma smiled a bit and turned to the red head, asking, "So, what are we going to today?" Aerrow blinked, now remembering what the Storm Hawks were going to do. Before the older girl came, they had received a called from another group of sky knights for a recon mission. There was bizarre activity on a terra and they wanted to check it out if it was an enemy plan.

"We're heading for Terra Nord for a recon mission." The sky knight said, "There have been reports on it about something strange on it. We decided to check it out."

The Gaian raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What's Terra Nord?" She only had been to Terra Cyclonia and, thanks to her illiteracy in the Atmosian basic language; she didn't know what each terra was called or how their environment was. Fortunately, she didn't tell these people about Cyclonia and she didn't want to anyway.

Piper exclaimed, "Terra Nord is a tundra terra. It is mostly mountainous, but has a small forest just before the back drop where we are landing. Because of its climate, it is home to creatures who can withstand the cold."

"And it snows there too." said Junko, with a smile on his face. Something clicked inside Emma's head. When the wallop said snow, her instincts kicked it. Then, she grew a big smile on her face. Out of all the weather, the one she liked the most was snow.

"…I think I'm going to come too." The older teen said with a smile. Everyone stared at her with shocked faces. She wasn't a soldier, she was a civilian and their mission was dangerous. Realizing this, she continued, "I meant in the snow, not on your mission."

Breathing out a sigh a relief, the Sky Knight said, "That's good. We really wouldn't want you in any danger, being that… Ya know." The brunette knew what he meant. She sighed; she wanted to go on that mission subconsciously, but even with her fighting skill, she wouldn't make it.

"Oh, you're going to love Terra Nord!" said Finn, "There are ski and snowboard shops! Hot Coco-"

"Not to mention the icy temperatures that can freeze a person in a block of ice." interrupted Stork, as everyone turned to see his twitchy face. Emma sighed; she can handle the weather. After all, she lived in the Great Northwet for most of her life. If she can handle the weird weather coming from the ocean back in her own world, she can handle the snow on Terra Nord.

"Relax, Stork. The Blizzarians are there too." said Junko, trying to make the Gaian feel all better. She raised an eyebrow in confusion. Other than the wallop, merb, cabbit and Murk Raiders, she only saw the Raptors as an alien race that was different from humans. She never knew of what else was out there.

"… What's a Blizzarian?" she asked, blinking. The Storm Hawks heard and tried to think the best way to explain what a Blizzarian was. Since the girl was from an unknown place that they have only heard about in fairy tales, they didn't know what creatures the location had. But they realized that Radarr almost look like them so…

"Think of them as Radarr, only bigger." said Piper. The brunette turned at the tanned girl first, and then at the cabbit, who was grooming himself with a hairbrush. After that, she imagined the copilot about the size of King Kong on top of the Empire State Building. She shivered at that thought.

"No thanks… I think I'll play by myself." Emma said, while looking down and gripping her arm. She was more of a loner than a team player. The only reason she was staying with the squadron was for shelter. She didn't felt that she could be friends with the team, even if she wanted to.

Aerrow stood there with a stern look on his face. "Okay…" he said, but before adding, "But you have to have a communicator, tracer, and warm clothing." The Gaian nodded and soon started to tear the Condor apart (Not literally) for the three items. Everyone watched in terror.

"… It must be Gaian Mind Worms." Stork said, before going back to piloting the ship. This was going to be a very weird day.

* * *

It was a twenty minutes after that conversation, the Condor landed down on an edge near Terra Nord. During that time, Emma had found the items she needed, and started to clean up the mess she made before they landed. It was hard work, but she mostly got it in place. Once they landed, Aerrow, Piper, Finn, and Junko went to the village where they would meet the other squadron, while the brunette went off in order to play in the snow, leaving Stork in the nice, warm ship.

The Gaian found that Nordian snow was different from Washington's lowland's as she started to make snow angels. The sheet was a several inches high, which made it clear that she can make snow forts, snowballs, and other snow things. But first she wanted to do something else.

She started gather up some snow and started to make three snowmen, but in the form of the Talon commanders. Once she was done, she started to make a pile of snowballs. After she made about thirty or so, the teen turned to face the snow dummies at hand. And she did something she would have never done to the real ones.

She began pelting the snowmen with snowballs.

"Jerks! Idiots! No good rotten villains!" she insulted, before yelling a lot more insults, while each snowball was thrown with incredible strength. All the rage she had bottle up inside was aimed toward the fake dummies and nothing else. She didn't like to get angry because she thought she would turn into a complete monster. But after what the Dark Ace did, taking Katie and sending the youngest to a prison for absolutely nothing, she had to vent it out somehow.

Once wasting all the snowballs, Emma fell down to her knees. She felt like crying, but didn't. She had failed her sister for she could not rescue her. She wanted to be stronger, but didn't have the strength to fight these soldiers. 'I wish…' she thought, but her thoughts were interrupted by a fluttering sound.

The Gaian turned her head to see a strange bird, with multi-colored feathers of green, purple, yellow, red, dark blue, and light blue. It reminded of the longed-neck birds of her world. With its yellowish, non-pupils eyes, it stared at her with a curious look.

'Nice bird…' she thought, before seeing it noticed the tools she had left on a nearby rock. 'Curious bird…' she thought again, before seeing it take the tracer and flying off. 'THEIVING BIRD!' she thought, as she picked up the rest of the communicator and started to chase after the strange bird.

For minutes, she ran after the bird, much to her surprise since it didn't to put much effort into flying away. But the woods made it tough to maneuver at such a fast speed. It was only a few minutes that the bird started to fly faster than it was a moment ago. It was until the brunette lost sight of it and came into a clearing that she stopped with heavy breaths.

"Dang it! What else could go wrong?" she asked, while thinking about how much trouble she was in. Not only had she lost the tracer, she was completely lost. Of course, the teen didn't expect an answer from that question.

"Well, you could be hearing things." said a strange voice, as Emma stiffened a little bit. She turned around to see man staring at her, upside down on a tree. He had a hood over his head, but she could see that he had deep blue eyes and a green and purple goatee. The clothes he was wearing were about the same as a sorcerer or circus performer and that they were the same colors as the weird bird's feathers. She stood before a second, before yelping and falling down to the ground.

"You know you shouldn't scream," The man said, before falling down and landing on his feet, "You might cause an avalanche." The girl formed an angry face as she stood up. This guy scared her and he didn't seem sorry for it. But she repressed it as she stood up and started to walk away.

"You're also going the wrong way." the man's voice said again, before the teen ran into him. Then, she looked to where he was and then where he is now. "The way to the village is that way." He said, before pointing off in the Southwestern direction. The Gaian was getting tired of this joker. But other than to punch him, she would say what she was doing in the first place.

Taking a deep breath, the brunette said, "I wasn't going to the village. I'm looking for a bird." She might as well tell him the truth. Even if the man was a bird brain, he could have seen that bird. She needed to at least try to get the tracer back.

The man put a hand to his chin as he started to think. "Let me guess…" he started, "A strange bird, has the same colors as I have on, handsome beak, probably a Mynall bird." The teen nodded at those things; she didn't get the Mynall bird part, but everything else was good. Then the man shrugged and said, "Haven't seen it." She facefaulted, got up, and started to stomped away, but saw that the man was in front of where she was going now, leaning against a tree.

"What are you? A sorcerer or something?" Emma asked, putting her hands on her hips. Other than other worlds, she believed in magic and fantasy creatures. If this man was really a magic-user, then not only would she prove that there were other worlds, but there was magic also. She smiled at the thought. But all she got was a laugh from the man.

"Sorry about that, I have never been called a sorcerer before." he answered, before adding, "A shapeshifter, maybe, but never a sorcerer."

The Gaian sighed, and then said, "Okay then… See ya." Then, she started to walk off, but she ran into the guy again. She fell down, landing on her butt. She looked up to see the man offering to help her up like a real gentleman, and she reluctantly accepted it. Even if it felt degrading, help was help.

"First, let me give you a little advice." he said, before speaking again. "First off, think of a better outfit, that really doesn't suit you." The teen felt insulted by that. "Last, you better watch yourself. This world has dangers, and the Cyclonians are only the tip of the ice berg."

Emma looked away for a second, muttering, "Cyclonians… How did you-?" Then, she looked back to see that the man had disappear. "… HEY! WHERE DID THAT GUY GO?!" she yelled, but then heard a rumbling sound. Now, she realized why the guy joked about the avalanche part. There really was an…

"AVALANCHE!!"

* * *

"Did you hear something?" said Junko, as the rest of the Storm Hawks stopped to look at him. They made it to the small village of Terra Nord and, they hadn't been paying attention that much to anything around them. In fact, this was the only time they had stopped in the trip.

"… Nope, nothing." said Finn, as he looked around for what could make noise. All he could see were humans wrapped in warm cloaks and dog-like anthros. "Maybe you were imagining it, buddy."

"I'm serious, Finn. I did hear something." said the wallop, staring at the blonde while looking frighten. They started to converse about if it was a mind trick or not, while Aerrow noticed Piper looking very worried. It must have been something on her mind.

"Piper, you okay?" he asked; the tanned girl looking at him. She smiled a bit, trying to make it like a big problem. But in her mind, it was a big problem.

"I'm just worried…" she said, "I mean, Emma being out there and all…" It was a good thing to be worried about. They didn't know what Gaians were like other than the ones from the myths, so they didn't know if the older girl was going to be fine or not. The sky knight was about to say something comforting, before hearing a familiar voice.

"Hello there, eh." said the Canadian-accent voice, as the squadron turned to see a bluish fur dog anthro with purple hair that was in a high-top pony tail and green eyes. She, by the looks of it, was wearing a light tanned coat with purple sleeves, brownish pants that only covered the top of her legs, and pieces of armor.

"Suzi Lu!" said Piper, hyped up as she appeared quickly up to the dog anthro. Then, she noticed that the Blizzarian was the only sky knight there. She turned back to the female dog anthro, asking, "Where are the others?"

Suzi Lu blew up a bubble before it popped. "The Nord squadron was out when the activity happen and my boys are out in the back country." she answered, watching as the team formed a scared face. "Don't worry, they'll meet us soon. Don't want to face this alone, eh."

Aerrow raised an eyebrow and asked, "Face what? I thought it was a recon mission." The dog anthro started to walk as the rest followed. They came upon a couple of snowmobile-like vehicles. Then, she turned to the group, with a strange look on her face.

"It is, but I don't think these are your normal invaders." The Blizzarian sky knight said. "But let's go, eh." Then, she hopped onto the snowmobile called an Ice Grinder and started off. The Storm Hawks shrugged and started to where Suzi Lu was heading off.

But along the way, they wondered what they were looking for.

* * *

Meanwhile, five minutes later, Emma popped out of the newly-formed snow. The teen was lucky enough to find an air bubble in the avalanche and immediately started to dig her way out. Even if she was wearing most of the proper coat and boots for the terra, it was still cold and found herself shivering once she was out. 'At least it ain't worst.' She thought, before realizing she wasn't alone.

In front of her was a dog anthro, male by the look of it, wearing warm clothes with pieces of armor to match the environment. On his head was a red ski cap to cover his dark blue hair. He also had green eyes and bad dental hygiene. He just stared at the Gaian with a smile on his face.

"You know you shouldn't be out in the back country, eh," he said with an Canadian accent, before continuing, "You might cause an avalanche." Suddenly, two voices cheered. The girl turned to see two other male dog anthros; one with brown hair, a goatee, and goggles, and another with blonde hair that covered his eyes and a hat to top it off. The teen raised an eyebrow, thinking that these must be what the Storm Hawks called Blizzarians.

'Where have I heard that one before.' she thought, before looking at him. "Thank you for finding me, but I think I'm fine now." she said, jumping up and down to get warm. She was cold, but didn't want them to know it; she was too prideful that way. Besides, she can get back to the Condor by herself. But when the girl looked around, she noticed that nothing was familiar and now that she was more lost than ever. This was a really bad day for her.

Emma turned back to the Blizzarian, who was now sniffing her. She moved back, looking scared. The dog anthro blinked, before straightening up. "Sorry, eh, but you smell funny." he said, as the girl lost her cool for a moment. She knew that other people have the tendency of being fearful to something that wasn't like them, and she was too young to be burn at the stake.

But then, the Gaian remembered that she had been in the engine room of the Condor. It was before they landed on Terra Nord; she accidentally went into there and got blast with smoke and steam from some pipes while looking for the communicator. The male anthro must have smelled that, but she wasn't too sure.

Then, she noticed that the blue-haired dog-human was getting on his snowmobile. 'It was now or never,' she thought, before asking, "Ummm… Can you… Uhhhh… Take me to the village?"

The dog looked at her, and then shook his head. "Sorry," he answered, "Can't take girls out on back country training." The said girl raised eyebrow, while glaring. Why wouldn't he allow someone of the opposite sex to ride? Besides, she wasn't training; she wanted to go to the village. Maybe he could understand that.

"But what if this was a rescue mission instead of training, then would you take me?" Emma asked, trying to sound a lot more logical. The Blizzarian blinked and started to think. It seems plausible, but no girl has ridden with the squaddies of the Absolute Zeroes before. But this one wants to be rescue, and as a sky knight squadron, it was up to them to help the need. This was making his head hurt.

"… Can I borrow that communicator for a moment?" The dog anthro asked, while the human teen blinked. She handed it to him, as he started to tune it to somewhere else. Then, he started to talk to it.

"Hello, Suzi Lu..." he started, "This is Billy Rex here… Yea, I found a girl, eh. Under a bunch of snow… Let's see… She's brown hair down, blue eyed, smells funny, dresses funny as well." Suddenly, there was a loud crash coming from the communicator as the girl stiffened. There were a few more sentences before the Blizzarian male handed her the communicator. "It's for you."

The brunette blinked, before grabbing it and putting up to her ear, hearing, "EMMA! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" She winced, recognizing Piper's voice. The girl on the other line sounded really worried, which wasn't the right reaction in the older teen's mind.

"Yea, I'm fine, but you should be angry than worried." she answered back, whistling while waiting for an answer.

"Why not?" said Aerrow's voice. She sighed; maybe she should explain it to him.

"Because I caused the avalanche." the Gaian said, before continuing, "I am also lost, and I… I'll tell you later." She didn't want to tell them about her losing the tracer. It was bad enough that she caused an avalanche.

"Okay, put me back with Billy Rex. I'll tell him what to do." said an unfamiliar, female, Canadian accent voice, as Emma blinked. Then, she handed it back to Billy Rex, who listened to his leader. A few seconds afterwards, he handed the communicator back to her.

"She says rescuing you isn't against the rules." The Blizzarian said, while smiling big, "So, that means you're riding!"

"Rock On!" said the other two, "WHOOOOooooo!!" The other male anthros did the rocker hand sign in the air, as the Gaian looked. She wondered if she made the right choice or not.

The blue-haired dog anthro smirked as he said, "You can ride with me. I'll show you some of my wicked tricks. Awesome, eh?" The girl blinked and then hopped onto snowmobile. And grabbing onto the seat, the Absolute Zeroes started to go, with the Gaian thinking about what she had gotten herself into.

* * *

The Storm Hawks and Suzi Lu continued their journey to where they were going to the first place. After talking to Billy Rex, they realized that they were going to be on their own for this. Even if it was a big impact to the outcome of the mission, they had can take on whoever would come their way. Besides, Emma needed to get to the village in the first place. Being stuck in an avalanche with only a warm coat and boots is one of the starts of getting a cold.

After several minutes of traveling, the group stopped and stared at what they saw. It was a barren ice field of a campsite, with no sign of life. It was ruins of an outpost, but it was packed up nicely, with only holes to match where the tents were sent. It was strange how everything was left so nicely.

As they explored the campsite, they tried to look for a clue to what was there. So far, nothing came up. Whoever was here, they came in and left fast, without a trace. And there could be one possible explanation for this.

"Cyclonians," Aerrow said, as he turned to the others with a serious face. It had to be them, he just knew it. They were usually the ones causing trouble in Atmos, but why did they do a low-profile on Terra Nord instead of taking over it? Was it because there were two squadrons now? It just didn't feel right.

As they continued to explore the camp, Finn noticed something that didn't seem right. It looked like a rip in the mountain, but when he looked at it again, it was gone. 'It's probably nothing.' the sharpshooter thought as he continued to look.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound had shaken the terra and everyone turned to look at where it came from. Soon, they all realized that the Talons must have brought something with them, in order to cover up whatever they were looking for. A roar was heard, and then they saw something that wasn't human, heading for…

"THE VILLAGE!" everyone yelled, as they hopped onto their vehicles and headed after it. They forgot that they have left the village unprotected. Out of all of them, Suzi Lu hoped that her squad would be okay for the fight.

* * *

Meanwhile, Emma was trying her best not to scream for dear life. The Absolute Zeroes were C-R-A-Z to the Y. The three were doing extreme stunts that would have almost killed a person instantly. Billy Rex was the most risky, as he went for the really steep jumps instead of the straight and narrow path. When the Grinder was in midair, he did a spin, which made the Gaian and the Blizzarian fall down into a snow bank.

"WOOOHOOOoooo!!" said the dog anthro as he popped out of the snow. "That was totally awesome, eh!" The other two joined in, cheering at their teammate. The brunette popped out afterwards, looking very unimpressed.

These guys could almost kill her; maybe they were trying to kill her. They must have realized what the girl was and deciding instead of helping her, they were trying to slay her by doing pointless tricks. 'Stop being paranoid! You're starting to sound like Stork.' she thought, as she shook her head.

Billy Rex started to walk as he said, "Well, about sixty-nine miles to go!" The teen paled at the thought of riding sixty-nine miles with these nut-jobs. These dogs were wild and insane, and she wouldn't last the rest of ride. But her thoughts were interrupted by a roar.

The gang turned to a figure in the sky as it landed on the ground, with an aftershock that caused everyone to fall down. The creature was almost as big as a two-story house on Earth. It was like bat/demon/gargoyle creature with big horns, wings for arms, hind legs, and a fork-like tail. Its face was evil-looking with paleless, non-pupils eyes and no-nose nostrils. It stared at the group, as an evil smile formed on his face.

"Uh oh, I think we're in trouble, eh." said the blue-haired dog, as he and the other two took out their energy axes. They charged at the beast, as its smirk showed his fangs. Then, it made an energy ball with its mouth. The Blizzarians noticed this and started to run back. The Gaian noticed also and started to run for cover also. Once all four were behind an ice stalagmite, the beast shot an energy blast, which cut the top half of the barrier. Then, it proceeded in destroying the snowmobiles.

The group stared at the carnage as one of the other Absolute Zeroes said, "Well, we're goners. Anyone wants to spend their last moments eating?" The others team members nodded, as they took out popsicles and started to eat it. Emma stared at them with a raised eyebrow. Then, she stared back at the monster as it started to advance to the group. She didn't know if they didn't notice it or not.

But a million different thoughts ran through the human's head. She grasped her head, thinking about what would happen if they were killed here. Probably a thousands more deaths, since the creature could fly. She wanted to stop this, but she felt weak. She didn't have the strength, the skill, or the smarts to battle this. Could she do it by herself?

"_This world has dangers, and the Cyclonians are only the tip of the ice berg._" The man's voice echoed in her head. He was right, there were worst things than the Cyclonians, but something phased through the brunette's mind. She was with the Cyclonians and she survived, barely and with luck. What makes thing different from Talons? Well, it was bigger, uglier, and nonhuman, but if you take all of those away and there was nothing that would make a difference.

So, she decided to at least fight to the creature.

Emma stood up and started to walk up to the monster. It stopped and stared at her, smirking evilly. She stopped also, and stared up at it. She got into her basic fighting stance. She closed her eyes and with swiftness, punched the monster in its giant arm-wing. The teen looked up, and saw that the monster looked unfazed. She smiled sheepishly, before it whacked the girl into an ice wall with its tail.

The three Blizzarians peeked out from behind the ice-rock and stared at the almost-knocked out girl. They blinked simultaneously, as the demon was about to smash her with its arm-wing. But it stopped in mid-air when revving was heard.

The creature turned its head to see the Storm Hawks and a purple-haired Blizzarian coming at on Grinders. The Gaian partly opened her eyes to Aerrow jumped off his snowmobile and slashed at the demon. He cut off one of its horns with his energy knives. The wallop stopped, got off and attacked the creature with its glowing busters. Finn stopped his Grinder and started to shoot at it, while Piper slammed her staff on the monster's head. The female dog anthro just shot icy blasts at the monster. Even if their attacks were small, it was dealing a lot of damage to it.

The older teen watched as they battle, while feeling a lot of emotions she couldn't described. She was nineteen years old, almost an adult, and these adolescences were doing a better job than she would have ever done. She didn't know if it was angry or envy or the satisfaction of being saved. But the more she thought about it, the more she felt that she wasn't worthy.

Emma snapped herself back to reality, seeing that the creature was almost done. It was about to escape, until The Blizzarian blasted it with an attack that made it into a frozen statue. Since it was flying when it escape, it fell down and shattered into a million pieces. Everyone covered their eyes in order not to get cut.

"WHOOOOooooooo!! You guys were awesome, eh!" said Billy Rex, as he and the others dog anthro guys walked out. They started to talk about the battle and how cool it was. The Gaian watched from afar and sighed. She really didn't have anything in common. The sky knights were from this world.

And she was just an anime freak, video-gaming, music geek, sci-fi and fantasy freak, earthling girl, who couldn't even beat a lousy monster if her life depended on it.

After a few minutes of being in her own little world, the brunette heard, "Hey, are you coming?" She looked up to see the human sky knight talking to her, and the rest were setting up their rides. She blinked. She didn't want to ride with them; she at least wanted to be independent in this world. She was that stubborn.

But then the older teen remembered that it was a long way from where she was sitting and it would be tough to walk that far. Especially if she was going to walk through snow in non-suitable clothes, she wouldn't make it. She sighed, saying, "Yea, I'm coming."

"Okay," said Aerrow, "You can ride with Billy Rex. His ride is the only one that isn't badly damage." The girl turned pale and looked over at the dark blue-haired Blizzarian. He looked back at her, grinning his best smile. That's when she knew that she wasn't paranoid.

They were really trying to kill her.

* * *

The group made it back to the village, safe and in one piece; except for Emma, who would be mentally scarred for life of this. The Storm Hawks and Absolute Zeroes started to talk about their rides, missions, and other things that the Gaian couldn't join in. She was mention a few times by Billy Rex though, for smelling weird and attacking the monster when most of them accepted their fate. She slapped her head, for being so stupid, but the other didn't seem to mind her mistake of punching the creature before they got there. After the two squadrons were done, the group of teens said their goodbyes and they started to head for the Condor.

Once they got there, they realized that they forgot to recharge the ship's heating unit, which left Stork in a frozen with the rest of the inside of the ship. It was somewhat funny, seeing him in a shivering position. The whole team then started to thaw out their home, with the merb being unfrozen, saying, "I told you so…"

"So," said Emma, as she started to peel off some ice with a brush, "Think of me as an idiot for going up against the monster." For this question, she directed it at everyone. She knew she was in trouble; she just wanted to hear how they were going to punish her.

"Actually, it was kinda brave." said Aerrow, as he also peeled off the ice with the furnace crystal he was handed. "Reckless, but brave."

"And that's a good thing because…" The older teen said, as she continued to scrape the ice off. She didn't felt brave when he punched that creature; she felt that she had to do it. It was like a sense of duty or something.

"Because we're the Storm Hawks!" said Finn, while raising his arms, "We're all about recklessness!" Everyone stared at the sharpshooter with wide eyes. That was one way to describe the team.

"… Like you haven't notice; Aerrow is reckless with his flying skills and sky fu, I'm reckless because ladies love it, Junko's reckless when it comes to food that gnarly, Piper is reckless when it comes to Crystal Studies,"

"Hey!"

"… Okay, partly reckless when it to crystals and Stork is… Well, Stork." The merb smiled as the blonde knew that there was nothing that he could diss to make him feel reckless. He was so paranoid of anything that there was nothing to be reckless with.

"Oh! What about his gadgets and booby-traps?!" Drats! The wallop had a point.

The group laughed as Stork blushed, as Aerrow turned to Emma. "You see," he said, "We're not like any other sky knight squadron because we're kids. We have new ways to help with this war that no one has ever had. For someone older, we can be called reckless because they never have thought of doing it our own way. But for us, the sky is never the limit."

The Gaian blinked, before getting back to scraping. Even if his words were a little encouraging, she still felt bad about going up against the monster with only a small punch. She wanted to be better than that; she wanted to kick that monster's ass. But her thoughts were interrupted by someone else.

"Oh yea, what was the bad thing you wanted to tell us back when the Absolute Zeroes found you?" the sky knight asked, as the girl stiffened. Then, she relaxed as she continued to scrape.

"Yea… I lost the tracer," she answered, as she continued to scrape. They were bound to know sooner or later. So, she wanted to tell them now when they were busy with their chores.

Piper blinked, as she noticed something at the brunette's coat pocket. "Oh really, then what's in your pocket?" The other girl blinked, as she reached into her coat pocket. There was something in there as she pulled it out. And then, she stared with a blank face at the tracer the strange bird had stolen.

Blinking in dismay, Emma stood up, put the tracer on the table, and walked up to a wall. Then, out of frustration, she started to bang her head against the wall. The group stared at her with wide eyes and freak out faces.

"Ummmm… I wouldn't do that." said Stork, "You might put a dent in the Condor." The teen turned to the group with a sudden deathglare. Then, she went back to banging her head against the wall, this time only harder.

The Storm Hawks watched, as Finn said something that they were all thinking, "Dude, Gaians are weird."

* * *

And that's the end of Chapter 6. I have Chapter 7 pretty much in my mind. It's an expedition with some familiar faces and new space cases. Wow, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it.

Now, I apologize if this chapter isn't as good as the rest. I also apologize for having fewer parts for Stork and Radarr. For punishment, I shall not eat my most favorite food for about a week…

And yes, I think Finn's music is super cool. So, spare me.

Also, I like to thank Tuberculosis Queen, who has awesome Storm Hawks stories and Cold-heart-Angel23 for the story idea. They both voted on the Blizzarian chapter and I give them cookies for it. I don't know whether it is like your envision it or not, but it is the best I did. I have tried to think of several different enemies for them to fight. I had to settle with a monster.

Please Read and Review!


	7. Chapter 7: The Temple of the Beast

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 7: Temple of the Beast_

It was an ordinary day on the Condor. The birds were singing, the sun was shining,

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

And Finn was running away from Piper.

"FINN!! COME BACK HERE!! "

Yes, for some reason, the specialist was chasing our favorite blondethrough the Condor with her staff. Whether he had said some stupid remark or it was a prank gone wrong, he was being chased by a very angry teen girl, and that was that. He was hiding behind Junko in the loading dock for a Huma- I mean, Wallop shield.

The tanned girl stared at him with death in her eyes. "Where are my _crystals_?" she asked, with venom in her voice. The sharpshooter stared at him from behind the strongman's back. He looked really scared, but at the same time, very guilty.

"Dude! I didn't mess with your stupid crystals!" Finn replied, as he continued to hide behind Junko. The wallop just stood there, looking very confused. He didn't know whether to take his best friend's side or his other best friend's side.

'My head hurts.' he thought, as he watched Piper chase the sharpshooter. Radarr watched from on top of some boxes. For some reason, the scene reminded him of a song that the sky knight used to sing. Then, his realized that it was true when the blonde hopped onto the rhino's head. He laughed his furry little head at the sight.

The tanned girl was about to whack the boy, until a voice said, "Hey, guys, why is Piper crazy?" They stopped what they were doing and turned to see Emma, who looked strangely weird today. It was like she had a haircut or something?

"… Did you get your hair cut?" said the wallop, with his eyebrows raised. The Gaian shook her, sighing. That wasn't it; she was going to ask them about her new look.

"What do you think about me with silver hair?" she asked, watching everyone's reaction. Their jaws dropped. The older teen indeed had white hair, with white eyebrows as well. They didn't know what to say; this was the first time seeing her with white hair.

Junkowas the first one to say it, "It's nice, but… I like you with your normal hair." The "brunette" huffed in disappointment. She wanted to have white/silver/gray hair, but she knew no one in her world would understand it, including her family. That and she didn't want to bother with the trouble of chemically changing it.

Suddenly, Piper realized something, as she asked, "How did you get your hair white?" Emma turned to her with a toothy grin. It was like she wanted to be found out.

"Simple, with the crystals I found in this room and a lot of other gadgets as well." she said, innocently as she continued to smile. The tanned girl looked freaked out when she heard that. The older teen was in her room, playing with her crystals. Piper didn't know what to do.

"You… were in… MY room?!" she asked, her face shown a cross between confusion and anger. Anger because someone was in her room messing with her crystals. Confusion because of how girls know each other's space and privacy.

The Gaian looked at her witha freaked-out face. "… Oops." she said, "I thought it was a room anyone could enter. It was unlocked and everything. My bad." The other girl glared her withdaggers. She was almost like Finn in her own way. Then, she remembered that she was chasing the wrong person. She blushed with embarrassment for making the mistake.

Emma looked around the room as she said, "Did I miss something?" She thought that they were all training since they were a sky squadron. They do it mostly after their chores were done, but other than that, this was really weird.

"No! Piper tried to kill me!" yelled Finn, as he hopped off Junko's back. The older teen blinked and turned to the tanned girl, who looked sheepishly guilty. She sighed as she considered that humans continuing judge people from past actions and appearances.

"Piper, stop blaming Finn for every little thing that happens to you." the "brunette" said, as she shook her head. For two days since the trip to Terra Nord, she has seen both the specialist and the sharpshooter fighting. Most of it has been Finn's fault, but she didn't care. They should still kiss and make up. Besides, all the things they fought about were insignificant.

"And besides, no harm done, I tried to put everything back in its place because being disorganized is a pet peeve of yours. And I know a little more about crystals." The white-haired girl said. She did learn some things; one of them was that weapons helped when playing with using Freezers and Blazers. She had the burns and ice on her hands to prove it. "Of course, it isn't like magic."

Suddenly, the wallop's ears picked up on what Emma said. "Wait, do you believe in magic?" he asked, as the older teen turned to the group. She was about to answer, but noticed that they were all staring at her, including Radarr. She was frozen in silence.

The Gaian didn't know what to say; if she said yes, they would judge how immature she was. Most people in her world didn't believe in that silly magic, and if one person did, they would be deemed a lunatic or a child. She was still maybe a little crazy but not a lunatic. If she said she believed in magic back on Earth, they would have put her in bedlam post haste. So, she mostly kept it to herself.

Of course, this wasn't Earth. This was a world where it was still half in the dark ages of war, and half in the advancement of travel and technology. She wasn't sure if she went ahead and said that she did indeed believe that magic was real, whether they would laugh or not. Feeling that she didn't want to face embarrassment, she said, "Nevermind…"

They blinked, about to ask her again, until the intercom came online. "Storm Hawks, report to the bridge! Now!" announced Aerrow's voice, as it clicked off. Everyone nodded; taking action into getting there. Emma was about to follow to, before seeing Piper in front of her.

"What?" she asked, before the tanned girl held out her hand. She suddenly knew what it meant as she put a bluish crystal with red veins into his hand. Her hair changed back to normal golden brown, as she watched the other girl scurry to the bridge. The Gaian stomped off to the bridge, pouting that she lost her white hair.

* * *

A few hours later, the Condor landed on a terra known as Mesoni, after receiving a distress beacon from it. It was a remote terra, with thick jungles, and untamable terrain. There was only one building there; a temple that could leave any man trembling in fear. Legend has it that the Mesonians created something so terrifying that they locked it up in there. There were only two paths that lead inside of where it was hidden: the Pathof Death and the Path of History. The Pathof Deathwas the entrance, but was filled with booby traps, while the Pathof History was safe, but was hidden. After passing the entries, the paths turn into mazes with the two trails intermingling.

Emma wanted to stay behind, since she wanted to be alone for a while and a jungle wouldn't be the best place for that, but Aerrow said it was probably best that she comes along since Stork was coming to disarm the booby traps. She probably thought she knew the real reason why, they didn't want her to break the Condor again.

The squadron made it to a campsite that was studying the ruins and their jaws dropped once they saw what the camp looked like. It was torn apart by something that wasn't human. The tents were shredded, and the tools and equipment was scattered through the campsite. Dead bodies lay along the ground, as dried blood mixed in with the sand. Finn looked like he was about to throw up at the sight of carnage.

The sky knight hopped off its skimmer and looked at the tracks made in the ground. "It's just as they said," he said, as he stood up, "Raptors." The brunette's ears picked up as she heard him say that the lizard anthros did this. She felt happy and disappointed at the same time. Happy that she was going to see Repton (strange how she remembers his name) and his three idiot brothers again; disappointed because they did this without remorse. But she hid it all under an emotionless mask.

There was a scuffling sound, as five of the Storm Hawks plus the Gaian went into fighting stance, and Stork went into his defensive, scared stance. A man crawled on the ground, wearing explorer's clothing. He looked beaten up, covered with scratches, cuts, and bruises. He looked up at the group of teams, coughing, "We were… expecting someone older…"

Everyone huffed at this and walked over to the man's aid. "What happened?" Aerrow asked, as he picked up the man's body. Piper walked over also, taking out some bandages and patching him up. The scientist coughed, while he was being doctored.

"We were about to take… Our studies, but… They came so fast… Cyclonians and Raptors… The Raptors tore the whole place apart and killed almost… almost everyone. We know Cyclonians went into the… Temple of the Beast… We don't know where the Raptors went… They retreated to the forest."

The older teen gulped after hearing that the Cyclonians were here as well. What would happen if some grunt or commander recognizes her? She hadn't told the squadron about her adventures on Cyclonia, because they didn't ask. She didn't know how they would take it, after learning that the Talons were capable of something like this.

"What are they after?" asked the specialist, curious as to why the Talons have done this. Other than the activity on Terra Nord, this was the Cyclonians first planned attack the Cyclonians in a long time. Before then, their attacks have been random, mostly trying to invade terras, most of it ending in failure, thanks to the Storm Hawks.

"The… Beast Crystal…" the man said, his life seeming to fade. "A powerful crystal… power is unknown by now… the Mesonians sealed it… in… there." Then, he pointed to the entrance of the Path of Death, before his fell down. "Please… don't let it… fall into… wrong hands… it's-" Then, his eyes rolled back, his pulse stopped, and his body showed the signs of his death.

Everyone stared with constant sadness that they made it too late. If they had gotten here sooner, maybe he would have a chance to live. But his soul, his life was gone. They could not save him now.

But they would stop the Cyclonians from getting the Beast Crystal.

"Stork, you and Piper come with me; we'll need your trap expertise to get past the Path of Death. Finn, Junko, you're on patrol with Radarr. And Emma…" Aerrow said, before noticing the Gaian touching the tracks very carefully. He didn't know if she was analyzing or something else; so, he said, "You're also on patrol with the guys."

"Okay." The brunette muttered, not looking at the sky knight. She wanted to go, but knew the cons of going inside. One of them was a Talon recognizing her from patrol. Then, she would have to go through the trouble of explaining and suspicion. Another reason was possible death from being inexperienced. And she didn't want that.

The redhead raised an eyebrow, thinking that the Gaian could have showed some more retaliation, but shrugged it off and left. The tanned girl and merb followed after him, the merb saying, "We'll probably be back as ghosts to haunt you." The blonde and wallop stiffened, but then relaxed. There were no such things as ghosts. The older girl thought it off; she would like to see some ghosts, like possibly the ghosts of her roommates that had been killed by booby traps.

"Don't worry," said Finn, "We'll have it all taken care of." He tried to act cool, earning a giggle from the specialist. She knew that he would probably detour from the plan. All three went into the temple entrance, as the others stayed behind to keep watch…

Not knowing what fate weaved for them.

* * *

A lone figure watched in the bushes at the scene. The Storm Hawks entered into the Temple of the Beast, while some of them stayed behind to guard. He hated them; how they humiliated his chance to get a rare find, to become the greatest figure in history. They and the Cyclonians will pay dearly for what they did. But revenge will come later; he had an item to grab.

'Or maybe I could do both…' he thought as he noticed the strange girl. She wasn't with the Storm Hawks last time they met. By now, they probably could have recognized him and tried to arrest him. But he could use this girl to his advantage. He already knew a short-cut to get past the death traps; he just needed to get the girl as bait and the other will follow to their doom.

The figure smiled as he retreated to the shadows. Revenge is a dish best served separated.

* * *

Emma sighed; she was bored. In several minutes, she was drawing stick figures in the sand, waiting for at least something to happen. Finn and Junko were trying to stick to their duty, but they had the same idea as her. No one is going to attack them out of the blue.

Suddenly, a rustling sound was heard as the Gaianturned her head to a bush. Curiosity pulled her toward it. She turned to the two, who were playing a game of "I Spy". Thinking that they were too busy with their game, she decided to see what the noise was and went deep into the jungle.

A few minutes of looking, and, so far, she found nothing. It was probably a wild animal; it was common for wild terras to havethose kinds of creatures. She just hoped it wasn't something that could eat her. Her upper body strength wouldn't be a match against a tiger-sized animal.

Suddenly, she heard more rustling and she turned to see a man pop out of the bushes. He was in his late 20's with tanned skin, blonde, short hair and goatee, and dark blue eyes. He was wearing explorer's clothing, with a fedora on his head, two bracelets, and a ring. He looked like he was running away from something. He noticed the girl and turned to her.

"Thank the gods! You guys came!" he said, as he grabbed her shoulders. She tensed up, then relaxed. "I contacted for help since my crew was captured and dragged into the temple by the Cyclonians."

"But… I thought everyone was dead." Emma muttered; feeling a bit uneasy with this man. She could feel that he was lying; her gut kept telling her. But she couldn't let her stupid human instinct judge a man; she was better than that.

The adult snickered as he said, "They're not dead. I've escape with my life still in tact. The rest of my crew is with the Cyclonians, trying to by pass the Path of Death." It sounded plausible, but the Gaian still couldn't shake that feeling away. She didn't trust this guy; if he really was part of the expedition, shouldn't he be tattered up as well. But maybe he escaped without anyone noticing he was gone. She sighed; she should help, even if her gut was telling her not to.

"Fine," the teen muttered, "I'll get the others and-" But the man grabbed her arm and stopped her in her tracks. She looked at him, thinking how stupid this guy is. She wasn't a sky knight; she wasn't even a good fighter. If they were going to take on Talons alone, they were dead.

"No!" he panicked, before relaxing, "No… They'll think I'm a Cyclonian in disguise… Besides, I know another way inside… It will give us a surprise attack when we face them." The girl blinked. It sounded like a good plan, but she needed Finn and Junko, even if they weren't as good as the others. He could be right about them thinking, and he actually didn't seem Cyclonian. But she still didn't trust him.

That didn't stop her from helping though.

"Fine…" she said, as the man let go of her arm. Then, he started to walk off. Emma followed after him, not realizing that she was being followed also.

* * *

Aerrow looked toward the path, now realizing that what lay before them really was a death trap. The Path of Deathwas true to its name, as skeletons lay across the floor. A few of them had arrows sticking out of their ribcage withmore arrows coming, while others were in a pit with spikes, and the rest were being crushed into dust by the stone pillars at the end. At least he knew one thing, the Talons came this way.

And they made it out alive.

He turned toward a hole in the wall, where Piper was looking. "Stork, what's our status?" he asked, while crossing his arms. The merb poked out, with a blackened face. He looked disappointingly at the leader, his eye twitching.

"It's going to take a few seconds, give or take. The Mesonians are outdated with their booby traps." he answered, as he went back to disabling the booby traps. The sky knight sighed; there was no way the Cyclonians would make it through this. But after the specialist's evaluation, there was no tampering withthe gears. How could they survive the traps if they couldn't even stop them? It wasn't as if there was another path to the temple. There was the Path of History, but it was hidden.

Then, he wondered why the Mesonians made two paths inside. The red head had heard the legend of the Beast Crystal. Its powers were unknown, but it did help the people who created it defend themselves against invaders. But then, they sealed it away, never to be used again. So, why did they seal it with only two paths leading in; one hidden and one a death trap? But his thoughts stopped as he heard a click.

Then, he turned to the path and saw all the traps deactivating. The arrows stopped shooting, the pit closing, and the pillars slowly coming into the ceiling. The tanned girl stood up next to him, and then the merb, with an oily face.

"That should buy us some time, if the gear I stopped was the right one." The helmsman said, before seeing the others take off. He sighed and followed after.

Today was just another day for doom to try and take them.

* * *

Emma and the explorer stood outside an entrance, which was half covered in vines. The other half looked ripped off by a large organism. She was a little bit nervous, since she didn't tell Finn, Junko, and Radarr about being witha complete stranger to save his buddies. So, she decided to break some ice between them.

"So, what's your name?" she asked, looking away from him. The Gaian just wanted to know his name; she didn't want to know anything else about the guy. He seemed a little arrogant in her opinion. Finn was arrogant, but it was a cute arrogance that she also found in Naruto. It was like he wanted to prove something. That's why she defended him most of the time.

The man looked at her and smiled, saying, "The name's Domiwick, best archaeologist in all of Atmos." The teen was right; he was arrogant. He thought he was the best in the whole world. But no matter how much of a jerk he was, she was helping him, and help was help. Her opinion of him didn't matter in this situation.

Emma looked at the man, who was bowing. "Ladies first." he said, trying to be a gentleman. She looked a little shocked, but she looked at him with an emotionless face.

"I'm not a lady," she said, and walked in. It was dark, with only a few light crystals lining the walls with dim lighting. Stones paved the walls and floors, as vines hung from the ceiling. The girl turned her head for a few seconds to see if the man was following her. He was, but when she turned to the front, she tripped over a loose stone. To prevent her fall, she grabbed onto a hanging vine in front of her, only to realize that it wasn't a vine at all after she felt some saliva on it.

She looked up the see a monster with black color. This time it looked like a full-grown werewolf, about as big as Snipe, only with no tail. It was very muscular, with two sets of arms. Its jaw was dislocated like a snakes'; too easily shallow the girl whole. She quickly let go and stood up straight.

Once it fell to the floor, it glared at her, snarling and clicking at the same time. It was on all fours like an animal. She quickly came to the conclusion that this was the terrifying thing the Mesonians locked up.

Then, the teen noticed that Domiwick guy passed her, smiling like someone who didn't care about anyone but himself. She growled, and glared at him. He noticed and said, "Sorry, but I believed you're smart enough, you can find your own way out of this."

Emma growled, and was about to lash out. But the creature was about to jump her. She stopped, only glaring at the man's retreating form. Then, she turned her full attention to the beast, trying to think of the best way to get out of it with all of her limbs intact.

Suddenly, a bone past by the two figures to a far side of the wall and landed on the floor. The monster noticed and approached it with caution. The Gaian started to slowly walk away, in order not to get noticed again. Once she was a safe distance, she started to run, deeper into the maze.

* * *

"Okay, okay, I got a good one this time." said Finn, as he started to look around. He and Junko were still playing the game of "I Spy". They hadn't notice anything weird lately. Besides, the Cyclonians were inside the maze, so the two had nothing to worry about. Well, except for the Gaian girl, who had a habit of disappearing at times.

And who was also probably hiding at this moment.

Panicking, he started to comb through the camp. The wallop noticed and blinked. "What are you doing? Are you going to tell me what you spy now?" he asked, following closely next to his friend. The blonde started to freak out, and then turned to his buddy.

"Dude! Emma's gone!" he said, looking at the strongman with freaked out eyes. Now, all his Zen went down the drain.

"You LOST her, Finn!" Junko yelled, not sure rather to be mad or scared for his new friend's life. The jungle was a dangerous place, and if she was in it, she would be walking off a cliff or being eaten by a Camotiger(Kinda like a tiger, only camouflages with its surroundings). He knew she wanted to go to the Condor, but he thought he wouldn't go as far as walking back.

Both guys looked for her footprints, but the wind came through earlier, causing the sand to cover up the tracks. It wouldn't seem right, since both knew that she wasn't that stupid to go back to the ship without permission. So, there was probably one other way to go.

Into the temple.

The wallop and blondestared at it, with scared faces. Of all the places she can go into, Emma had to choose the temple. It looked scary out front, who knows what lurks in it. But in order not to get into trouble, they must find her before the others knew what had happened.

"Come on, Junko, let's go save Emma before she hurts herself." Finn said, as he walked into the Pathof Death. Junkoblinked and sighed; he really didn't like this. They were diverting from the original plan. But it was in order to save a friend, and possibly their hides from extra work, as his friend called it. He just hoped nothing else went wrong.

* * *

Emma had started to walk through the secret entrance, now knowing that the creature was out of range. She was very angry at herself for trusting the guy. She was nineteen years old and yet that man tricked her into almost becoming monster food. Not only that, she diverted from the others and was completely lost in a middle of the temple. She knew she was going to be punished after this.

But the Gaian couldn't help but stare at hieroglyphs on the walls. Looking like the style of Aztec/Mayan art, it reminded of a comic strip or manga as she walked by. The first panel was a bunch of people fighting a bunch of wimps. Next panel showed the wimps making something; it looked like a crystal. Then, the next one showed a very creepy looking rendition of the monster she saw attacking the invaders. After that, it showed the monster attacking the innocent people left. Next, the people started to build something around the crystal and monster. It was followed by another panel of a person touching up to the crystal with the creature behind him. After that, the person was in pain, surround by some sort of aura. Last, there were two monsters in the panel this time. Afterwards, it started to repeat itself, but the girl continued to stare. That was until she ran into something, or someone.

"Hey, watch it." a familiar voice said, as she turned to see the back of a familiar friend (Or so she thought.). It was the muscular lizards of the Raptors; the one she called Pea brain. She couldn't remember his name, only Repton's. She decided to go with the name she had called him.

"Hi, Pea brain, where's Repton, Fatty, and Lizard Lips?" Emma asked, as the muscular lizard noticed her. He remembered that small, human figure anywhere. Also, she smelled the same strange smell as she did when they saw her and her sister. He growled, before picking her up.

"Hoerk! What'sss the hold up?!" called his older brother, as Hoerk turned to see his three brothers, who then noticed the Gaian in his hands. Repton, not receiving the news about events lately, quickly grabbed his brother and yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DO YOU WANT THE DARK ACE TO HAVE YOUR HIDE?!"

"Sorry boss." the bigger lizard said, as he dropped the human on her butt. She stood up, brushing herself off and muttering a few cuss words beneath her breath. Then, she looked at the lizards with a smile. They hated that smile; it meant that she wasn't afraid of them.

"Hi again, guys," she said, before asking, "So, what's shaking? Going after the Beast Crystal?" Before the fat lizard could answer, the three covered up his mouth. This was a top secret mission and if anyone else found out, the Talons would blame them for leaking it out. Besides, she was still a Talon cadet, or so they thought.

"Why thould we tell you!" said Spitz, while glaring at the teen. She glared back; she was tired of how he treated her. Maybe it was time to give him a new nickname.

"You know… During these past few weeks, I think Lizards Lips doesn't really suit ya. So, from now on, you shall be known as Loli-Lizard!" she exclaimed, as she pointed at the skinny lizard. All of them blinked, before she explained, "Loli is short for Lolita, which is a type of body and fashion for both men and women of modern Japanese culture."

"… I thtill don't get it." said Spitz, crossing his arms in anger for not getting a straight answer. It was a few minutes before the other three got what the girl was talking about. It was Leugy who decided to speak his mind.

"Daaahh… I think she just called you a girl, Spitz." said the fat lizard. The skinny lizard paled with a shocked face, as the realization came to him. Then, he screamed, echoing throughout the temple at his dismay. All four stared, not sure whether to laugh or to feel sorry.

"Sssso," Repton said, before turning to Emma, "Aren't you ssssupposed to be back on Cyclonia?" She turned to him, looking at him straight in the eye. She looked relax as she breathed in.

"Nope, I quit," the girl answered, like it was nothing serious. Actually, she lied; Cyclonia was going to imprison her before the Murk Raiders and Storm Hawks. But she didn't want them to know that. She hated Cyclonia. Unfortunately, she didn't notice all four Raptors staring at her, with hunger in their eyes.

"… Ssssso, you quit, right?" said the Raptor leader. The Gaian nodded, before realizing what she said. The only reason the lizards weren't going into an eating frenzy right now was because they still thought she was a Talon-in-training and the Dark Ace's threat into hunting down the sisters. But she told them out loud that she wasn't a Talon and now her only defense against them was gone. She sure made a mess this time.

Deciding it was best to run, the teen started to sprint as fast as she could down the hall. The Raptors started to follow afterward, not knowing of what was behind them.

* * *

"Hrrrmmm, what's taking them so long?" said Ravess, as she walked down the maze. She and a small group of Talon grunts were trying to get to the Beast Crystal before anyone else knew what had happen. The Raptors were getting too out of control in the massacre, and her brother had already gotten ahead. The Dark Ace was left behind at a camp, hidden on the terra. If anything else went wrong, it would be entirely their fault.

"Junko! Any sign of her?!" said a familiar voice, as the woman turned to see the blond and wallop of the notorious Storm Hawks. She smiled; maybe it wouldn't be bad day after all. She took out an arrow and loaded it in her bow, silently. If she got a perfect shot, two of those brats would be dead, and she would be the hero instead of the Dark Ace.

Unfortunately, the archer thought she saw a familiar brunette blur pass in front of her. She must have been seeing things. She heard rumors that the ship carrying the younger Gaian girl was attacked and all were dead. There was no way she could survive. But her thoughts were completely interrupted when three lizards ran into her.

The Talon commander looked up to see Leugy, Spitz, and Hoerk on top of her. They smiled sheepishly, before staring at their older brother, running past them after said-dead girl. She glared at them, with hidden fury. Now, her day was really ruined.

"Idiots!" she yelled, before whacking them with her bow. The three covered their heads from the blow. They really didn't tolerate it when anyone else but their brother to hit them for blunders. But this was Ravess AKA Talon Commander Witch that could easily beat them in a match. So, they just glared at her.

The pink-haired woman smiled, before turning to the two Storm Brats. Her smile faded; they noticed her. The squirrelly kid already pointed his crossbow at her, and the strongman had his knuckle busters ready. She growled; this just wasn't her day.

"Talons! Attack!" Ravess called, as she got her bow ready again. The grunts charged, followed by the lizards. Junko started to pound them one by one. Finn blasted at ones who were giving them difficulty. They were winning until the Talon commander started to shoot at the two.

Finn panicked, but quickly went back to shooting. "Dude! Emma owns us big time after this!" he said, as he continued to aim and fire.

"Yea! Let's hope she's alive after this." the wallop said, as he punched a Talon really hard. The sharpshooter frowned at the thought of the girl ending up dead. But then he remembered something that his team usually joked about. No matter what the Gaian is up against, she finds a way to get her out.

Whether it was dumb luck or not.

* * *

Meanwhile, Aerrow, Piper, and Stork were running down the hall, trying to figure out where the Beast Crystal was. The temple was really a maze, with all of the confusing ways and dead ends to boot. It was going to tough to find that crystal before the Cyclonians did.

Stork blinked and turned his head; he thought he saw someone familiar, someone who would probably give them bad luck or another monster that would probably give them a death wish, if he remembered correctly. The merb always wondered if it was best to keep her on the Condor. He still thought his "Throwing-her-into-the-desert" idea was good.

Suddenly, he saw Repton coming up. The lizard noticed the pilot and stopped. He smiled as he swung his boomerang at the gecko. The other anthro quickly ducked and started to run towards the two humans. They turned, going to ask him what was going on, but saw Repton, and instantly took out their weapons. The lizard smiled; he was beginning to enjoy his hunt.

"Well… I chasssed one pesssst and came up with more." he hissed as he ready his weapon. Aerrow was about to charge, but Piper stopped him.

"No! Get the Beast Crystal! I'll handle Repton." The specialist said, as she turned to the lizard. The redhead nodded and started to run. She turned back to the lizard, who was about to strike down on her. She quickly blocked at the last second, now knowing that she was biting off more than she could chew.

Stork watched with a nervous face. While biting his nails, he was thinking about which death was worst than this?

* * *

Emma continued to run; she hadn't run this much in her life. Maybe it was the ancient instinct giving her the strength to not be lizard food, or something else. But she continued to run, faster and faster. That was until she ran into something big; probably a wall or something. She wasn't really looking to where she was running.

A few seconds after gathering her thoughts, she heard the familiar, raspy voice, saying, "Hey!" Then, she was grabbed by her shirt collar and lifted up, into the face of one of her former Talon instructor, Snipe. He seemed especially angry today, expressed by how tight he was holding her collar. She felt that she was choking to death.

"You're not supposed to be here." The giant said with a snarl, while tightening his grip. The Gaian cringed, trying to figure out what he meant. Suddenly, a loud roar was heard, just before he loosened his hold. He was distracted; a good chance for her to run. She jumped down, but before she could get away, the man grabbed her hair and started to drag her down. She tried to get away, but with his strength, she didn't stand a chance. It wasn't before long that the blue-haired man had thrown her into a random room.

"Stay here 'til I come to get you!" he commanded, before slamming the stone door shut. The girl growled, while glaring at the door. She was angry, angry at herself for her weal defense. She looked around, seeing that it was a room for the already-past. She stiffened, thinking that she would become one of them if she did nothing. But the only thing she could do was waiting, wait for help to come.

… Screw waiting, she wasn't one for patience anyway.

* * *

Aerrow stood in front of a door, a little nervous about what was behind it. This had to be the chamber of the Beast Crystal; his team had searched all this time for it. The door had a hieroglyph of two strange creatures facing each other as if they were in a battle. He was about to touch the door, when it opened up to reveal what was inside.

It was a big, round room, with snake-like pillars supporting the ceiling. Vines decorated to place from the ceiling to the pillars to the floor below the sky knight's feet. In the middle of the room was a circular stand with a crystal on top. The crystal was glowing green, but unlike any other crystal, it was uneven, jagged, and yet, beautiful in its own style. Common sense told the boy that this was the Beast Crystal. He was about to grab it until he heard something.

"Stop right there." He heard, as the redhead turned to see a familiar face. Someone he didn't expect to see in a long time. His look turned grim as he turned his body to the figure.

"Domiwick…" the teen said, as his face turned to despair. "I thought… I thought…"

"You thought I was dead, right?" the blonde man said, "No, I survived the wreckage after you destroyed the Oracle and took the crystal from the Forbidden City. I was left there, after being betrayed by the Talons. Since then, I have become a laughing stock in the archaeological community. So, I decided to change to another career that still involved my interests."

Aerrow then glared at the archaeologist and said, "So, you're a mercenary now?" The man stiffened, but then glared back. That hit a little below the belt. He was grinding his teeth at what the boy said.

"No, I rather think of myself as an expert treasure hunter." Domiwick said, before holding out his hand. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll take that Beast Crystal off your hands now." The sky knight glared and took out his daggers.

"Over my dead body." he said, before activating the blue aura around the blade. The older man glared back and took out his sword, an ancient machete with red tribal paint. He activated the yellow-static in front of the blade.

"Then, we have no choice." Domiwicksaid, before both males lunged for battle.

* * *

Junkodid a battle-cry before punching the Talon grunt flat in his face. It had been a few minutes of battle, and both he and Finn had almost defeated of the Cyclonians. The three lizards were unconscious, but Ravess was still firing her arrows.

Once the wallop finished with the on-coming troops, he turned to his buddy to see if he had any help. He noticed that the blonde had gotten better, a lot better. It had been a few months since he'd been shot down. But now, he was basically on the same level as the archer.

That still didn't stop her from using her big crystal tip arrows to destroy the bolts.

The strong man tried to remedy that, by approaching the pink-haired woman. Before she could fire another shot, he grabbed her arm and muttered, "Sorry." She growled and then turned to blondeboy, who didn't fire. He approached the captured commander, with a smug look on his face.

Once he stopped in front of her, he said, "I suggest you take your troops and get out of here, before I really bring on the rain." She growled, knowing that she been defeated. Then, once the wallop let go, she grabbed the three Raptors by the tail and started to drag them off. The remaining Talons followed her also, with their heads hanging in shame.

"Dude! That was awesome!" said Finn, as he turned to Junko. The wallop cheered, as he too was glad that the fight was grand.

"Yea… Why are we in here again?" the wallop asked, blinking in confusion. It seemed that they were so into the fight; they had forgotten what they were in the temple for. It was only a few minutes later that they remembered.

"Emma!" the two said at the same time, before running down the hallways again. They hoped no other distractions would get in the way this time.

* * *

Piper was really having difficulty with Repton. The lizard was so quick withhis attacks that the only thing she could do was block. And even with the blocking, the girl was still having problems. The lead Raptor was strong and quick, so how was she going to defeat this guy.

Suddenly, Snipe appeared; another bad sign of doom. "Repton! We need to go, now!" he commanded, before noticing the tanned girl. "… Did I miss something?"

The lizard growled, but went on attacking the Storm Hawk. There was no way he wouldn't let an idiot like Snipe ruined his chance to get rid of a pest. Even if he missed the other pest he was chasing, do-gooder sky knights were better than annoying, human, weird girls who weren't afraid of lizards. But before he could attack, he felt his tail being yanked hard.

Reptonyelped, before turning to the giant withfury in his eyes. It was a known fact that reptiles were primitivebecause of how old their race was. And since the Raptor still had that primitive blood in him, he attacked the human male instead of waiting a few seconds. The other tried to defend himself from the anthro's berserk figure.

Piper watched with a confused face. She knew she wasn't going to get into that kind of fight. But they were also blocking the way to the main chamber, or though she thought. It was very confusing in the maze. Then, she heard a psst and turned to Stork, who was hiding behind a rock.

"Take a few steps back." he whispered, as the tanned girl stepped backwards. Then, the merb grabbed a vine and pulled it. A trap door appeared under the two fighters, before they fell down into the abyss. Their screams were heard as the specialist smirked.

"Wow, how did you know about that?" she said, before the pilot pointed at a picture on the wall. It was a Mesonian pulling a vine, and another Mesonian falling down. Piper's jaw dropped. The Mesonians had thought of this ahead of time.

"They must have added it so they would have an escape route if the temple caved in." Stork said, before hearing footsteps. They turned to see Finn and Junko running up to them. The two stopped, looking at the others. Piper glared at them, as they smiled sheepishly.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked, as she placed her hands on her hips. The two sighed; they knew she would figure out sooner or later. So, they went ahead with it.

"We lost… Emma." Finn said, trying to make it not sound like a major concern. He hated how he admitted the truth like that. Now, Piper is going to make a big deal out of this. And the last thing he needed was her telling him how he could mess up like this.

There was an awkward silence before the specialist spoke. "You _**LOST**_ Emma?!" she yelled, angry in her voice. Yup, this wasn't the best time to tell her.

"Wait, if you lost the little disaster maker," Stork began, before he continued, "Why do you think she's here instead of the Condor?" That was a good point; why would the other girl head in here instead of the Condor? There was a reason.

"… Because… She's Emma?" was all that Junko could say. The rest slapped their faces in stupidity. Suddenly, a roar was heard as a black blur passed them. The squadron paled; thinking they weren't alone in this place. They started to follow whatever it was, hoping that it was good.

* * *

Meanwhile, Emma was trying to break down the door, with not much success. Stone was really stronger than flesh. The only thing she got out of it was a bloody shoulder. She growled at she covered her shoulder in order to make it stop bleeding.

Suddenly, she felt the door budge. She quickly got away from the door, putting up her fists. If it was an enemy, she would like to die fighting. It was probably her inner will or human instinct telling her to fight. But when the door opened fully, she relaxed.

It was only Radarr.

"Radarr, what are you doing here?" she asked, relaxing a little. Even though she couldn't understand the cabbit; it made growls and movements saying that he was following her since she was helping out the jerk. In fact, he was the one who distracted the creature by throwing the bone.

Then, he started to make other movements for some questions. Questions like, why were being friendly with the Raptors? And what did Snipe meant by, "You're not supposed to be here?"? But due to her not understanding his normal talk, she just stared at him, nodding friendly.

After that, the blue furry slapped his head when he realized that the Gaian didn't understand him. Then, he decided that none of that was important and went onto what he discovered. For that, he used the ancient game of charades.

First, he tried to act like a monster. "Frankenstein… Godzilla… Beast?" Radarr put a finger to his nose, signaling that she got it right. Then, he held up a rock. "Rock… No, gem! … Is it Crystal" Another point. "Beast Crystal!" The creature nodded, then went into a series of actions that was supposed to enact transformation. But unfortunately, it didn't get through to her.

"Okay, I'm just going to come out and say it…" the girl said, "I don't understand you at times." Radarr slapped his head again, before grabbing her hand and starting to drag her outside. Feeling that she was a little out of place, she took her hand away. Then, she started to walk. But the creature walked in front of her and growled.

The teen flinched and turned back. "Fine, I'm going. I'm going." she said, as she started to walk. The cabbit growled some more, wanting her to hurry. She started to run again, wondering why she was running so much today.

* * *

Aerrow blocked Domiwick's attack and went for a kick. The blondeman moved back and went for a slash. The red head dodged, and bothwere standing in attack stances. Somehow, the man had gotten better since his fight with Piper. Maybe it was because he didn't lose to a girl again.

As both males were about to charge, they turned to noticed Emma running up, with a very angry Radarrbehind him. She stopped to see the two staring at her with strange looks. She blinked, before going into an embarrassing laugh.

"Sorry, please continue with your fight." she said, while blushing. The two facefaulted, they were not sure how to properly react to this.

They stood up and were about to fight, until a roar was heard. Everyone turned to see the same monster that almost attacked the Gaian, charging at her. She yelped and ran until she got to a wall. She turned back to face the Beast. Now, she was between a wall and a set of teeth.

'Oh god, this is like the mad dog incident all over again.' she thought, reminiscing about her childhood. The sky knight was about to help, but then turned to see the archeologistwas about to grabbed the crystal. He was stuck in moral combat; should he save his newly-found friend, or stop the villain from winning?

He decided to do both.

"Hey! Beast! Someone is stealing your crystal!" Aerrow taunted. The monster heard, and then turned to the blondeman. The man noticed the look in its eyes and knew that it was after him now. He glared, but not before running away, with the monster following him.

The sky knight smiled and walked over to the teen, while asking, "Are you alright?" He noticed how scared the girl looked; she was frightened even if she was hiding it. It was like she was trying to be brave, but was failing miserably.

"I'm… I'm fine." Emma said, as she calmed down. She stood up, brushing herself off.

"How did you get in here in the first place?" he asked, sternly. She shouldn't be in here; it was too dangerous for someone with no experience.

She pointed her finger down the hallway that Domiwick went into and simply said, "Him, he said he needed help." The Gaian grabbed her elbow, feeling a bit angry at herself. She felt that he was a good guy, even through his arrogance, but in the end, she was used as some worm on a hook. The boy shook his head, knowing that she made a simple mistake. But he needed to think about it some other time; right now, he needed to get the Beast Crystal.

Aerrow walked over and was about to grab it, but was stopped when Radarr stood in front of him and growled. He looked like a rabid dog, ready to bite when provoke. The sky knight stood back, frightened by how his co-pilot was acting. "Radarr, what's gotten into you?"

"Yea, he's been acting strange." Emma said, "First, he wanted to play charades that had to do with the Beast Crystal. Then, he wanted to get here in a hurry. I don't know whether it was because of the Beast or not."

This was strange; if Radarrwas acting like this, then something must be up. But there was nothing unusual. It was just your basic expedition. Well, except for the monster and Emma getting through with Domiwick. 'Wait a sec.' he thought, before asking, "Did you and Domiwick go a different way?"

The older teen turned to him and answered, "Yea… Through a path that was hidden. It was strange though. No booby traps, only a comic strip that kept repeating itself…" The boy started to think, trying to piece it all together.

"What was the… Comic, as you called it, about?" he asked; he still needed a few more hints. The Gaian started to explain.

"Well, first the Mesonianswere fighting some invaders. Then, they created a crystal. After that, they made a monster sic on the invaders. But the monster betrayed them. So, they built the temple to surround it and the crystal. Next, a person comes into this room with the monster following behind him. But once the person touches the crystal, he starts to transform. And the last panel shows that he turns into a monster… Or at least, that's how I interpret it."

The sky knight thought, before turning to Radarr. He nodded; a good sign. Then, the boy turned to the older teen and said, "What if the path you went down was the Pathof History?" The girl turned to him, with interest. "And that path told what the crystal's purpose was."

It seemed to make sense, well, in the girl's mind. But why would the Mesonians build another path if it wasn't used for maintenance? Unless, it was also the same purpose as the Pathof Death; to keep people out…

By making people realize what the crystal's true purpose.

"Oh crud, it turns people into monsters." she said, freaking out. Aerrow nodded; he figured it out before her, and still had the same reaction as her. His co-pilot saved their sanity by figuring out what those pictures meant before any damage could be done. Now, the question was what to do next?

The sky knight turned to the Beast Crystal, withhis daggers glowing. Then, with one slash, he destroyed the crystal entirely. The Gaian watched as the shards flew all over the room. For some reason, it felt sad to see something so powerful, yet deadly as the Beast Crystal destroyed just like that. Maybe it was something she couldn't explain, but whatever it was, she knew destroying it was the right thing to do.

The other Storm Hawks came in, just when the last shard fell. "Dude, what happened?!" asked Finn, who looked at the scene. The older teen looked back at them, and then at the red head, as he stood there, in silence.

Then, the green-eyed boy turned to them witha smile, answering, "I got into a fight with Domiwick. He somehow survived and got in here." She sighed; he hadn't told them about her mistake. Then, she watched him started to walk away.

"What about the Beast Crystal?" asked Piper, as the leader stopped in his tracks. He turned to them with a stern look in his face. Nobody bet they had seen Aerrow like this.

"I'll tell you once we're on the Condor." he answered, before turning to the front and walking again. Everyone started to follow him, at a slower pace. The brunette was the slowest; she felt responsible for his actions. She continued to walk, imagining what was going to happen to her.

They were probably going to hang her from the Condor while flying.

* * *

The Storm Hawks plus earthling girl left the terra without making a fuse. The sky knight told them what the Beast Crystal was for and why he destroyed it. They, except one, all agreed that it was for the good of Atmos because people didn't want to be monsters. Emma only agreed that people shouldn't be monsters mentally; she didn't care that much for looks as in mental stability.

She sighed as she stared out the window, waiting for her punishment to come. She thought about a lot of things, like how it was easy to be tricked. She knew she didn't trust that Domiwick guy, but her good nature took over. She wanted to punch herself for letting a mistake like that happen.

Suddenly, the door to the bridge opened, as the girl turned to Aerrow. "… Are you mad?" she asked first, while looking outside. She knew that he was mad; who would forgive her for letting someone in?

"Well… I'm mad at you for walking off without Finn's or Junko's knowledge." he said, "But if it is about the Domiwick incident, then you shouldn't worry about it."

The brunette blinked at the boy, and then looked down. "I shouldn't have helped him. He was arrogant. I don't mean like Finn, I mean like… You know those people who think they are better than other people. That is what he's like."

The sky knight blinked, before looking down. He scratched his head, before saying, "Well, at least you know now not to trust him. He was a jerk anyway. Besides, if you hadn't helped him, we wouldn't have known what the crystal's power was and we would have probably lost our mind."

"Yea…" The Gaian said, not as ecstatic as she should be. The redhead sighed, not sure how else to handle this. He decided that she's probably okay withwhat she had done, and decided to give her something. When she looked at it, she cocked an eyebrow and said, "A… rag?"

Aerrow nodded, explaining, "It's to clean up the inside of the ship. But don't worry, you're not alone." And just like that, a wet rag hit Emma. She turned to see Finn and Junko hiding in the doorway, laughing their heads off. Thinking that it was for fun, she turned to the sky knight, who just shrugged. Then, she turned back to the two jokers, with a smile on her face.

"Alright, guys! I accept your challenge!" she said, as she started to run withthe wet cloth in hand. Both the anthro and blonde teen yelped, as they started to run like their lives were in danger. The sky knight laughed, seeing that she was probably getting her revenge in a comical way. Then, he noticed his co-pilot walking through the door, staring suspiciously at the older teen. That's when he wondered what also happened that would have made Radarr suspicious.

* * *

"So… Not only did the Storm Hawks defeat you, but they also destroyed the Beast Crystal… How disgraceful."

The Raptors, Ravess, and Snipe looked down, with shame, at the Dark Ace. They made it back to the Cyclonian camp and told the head commander what had happened. Apparently, they figured out that the Storm Hawks destroyed the Beast Crystal because they didn't hear any roars or screeched. Actually, they were planning on letting the Storm Hawks have the crystal, hoping that they would accidently set it off so the squadron could turn into beasts, and then kill them. But that certainly went down the drain.

Repton, who was seriously tired of the Dark Ace's insults, decided to put the blame on someone he saw earlier that day. "It'ssss not my fault! It was the stupid human girl'ssss fault! Ssssshe ssssaid sssshe quit being a Talon and decided to be a Sssstorm Hawk!"

Everyone turned to the Raptor with wide eyes. If he was talking about the tanned girl, Piper, they would consider it. But he was talking about a dead girl, or so they thought.

"But it'th true! We thaw her in the temple, and thhe thaid thhe quit!" confirmed Spitz, who was pissed off, probably because said-girl called him a girl as well. The Dark Ace slapped his head, thinking that all the lizards had gone off the edge today.

It was time for Ravess to speak, as she said, "Actually, I thought I saw that girl today. But it was a blur, before the Raptors ruined a perfectly good shot." She glared at the three brothers, who stepped back. They said they were sorry.

The black-haired man blinked and turned to Snipe, who just glared at him and huffed. There was no way that all of them could have the same delusion. Thus, logically, the girl was still alive. But also logically, she couldn't survive a Murk Raider attack. Unless…

The Dark Ace smiled as his mind began to tick. Oh, how he was going to enjoy his little reunion with the Gaian girl.

* * *

Author's Notes:

I got done with this chapter a little earlier. But it has been edited for grammar, because my grammar is poor. Sorry for the wait.

Also, I decided to put Domiwick in this chapter because I think he's going to be back. This is how I envision him coming back as a mercenary. I do not like that jerk, so don't consider me as a Domiwick fan. He isn't like Naru-, I mean, Finn!

And yes, I think Spitz was a girl the first time I saw him. Since then, I always wanted to see the lizard cross-dressing or wearing a Sailor Fuku. If anyone had decides to do this, I shall give them a lot hugs and kisses for making (one) of my fantasies come true.

The Beast and Beast Crystal is mine, unless someone came up with a Beast Crystal. I sorry for stealing your idea, but if anyone wants to use it, please ask me or the person who made it first.

I would like to thank Kitten2007, Tuberculosis Queen, and Eldonyx for reviewing my story. And for Eldonyx, I would like to say that Emma isn't that much timid. She just feels that her Earth society makes her like that and she doesn't like it that much. She thinks that if she was in a different world, that she would be more outward to people. That and she's trying to be more outward. Strange, huh? If that doesn't explain it, then I'm sorry.

Also, I'm thinking of starting other Storm Hawks stories, including my own line of fairy tales read by Repton to his brothers. Even though I got few reviews on it, I still have a lot of good fairy tale ideas. But I'm not too sure. If you think I should, let lightning-, wait a sec… /Is under a lightning shield/ Okay, let lightning strike me now.

Please Read and Review.


	8. Chapter 8: Saving or Trapping

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 8: Saving or Trapping_

There is no definite trap to predict the future, but many humans have come up with many ways to tell. For the Vikings, it was the runes carved in stone. In Africa, it was the bones of animals. But Tarot cards are the popular way to see what lies ahead.

But there was other ways to use these cards; one of them was playing cards, as Emma was demonstrating in a game of solitaire, with the minor Arcana and Court cards of the Dragon Tarot set. The only problem with the game was to remember which cards go where. A Page card can be above a Knight, or a Cup can go about a Sword, when it should go above a Wand or Coin. If a mistake like that happens, she just cleared the field and start over again. But it was nice, because she never had this much alone time on the Condor.

Wham! Bang! Crash!

'… Spoke to soon.' the Gaian thought, before turning to her roommates, the Storm Hawks. Out of all the times that they could be practicing combat training, why did it have to be now? She sighed, as she listened to the racket coming from the docking bay. It was the same problem back on her world, only the opposite. It was usually her making the racket with music, while her parents yelled about the noise and jumping. Suddenly, she felt depressed as she laid her head on the table.

The gang entered, not noticing the older teen's sad face until they heard a sigh. They turned to her, with concern looks, wondering what was wrong. She really didn't talk much to anyone, other than if she wanted something or had a question. Basically, they didn't know much about her. So, the squadron didn't know how to help her.

Good thing that Finn had that blind courage when he walked off to her and asked, "You okay?"

"Yea," The brunette murmured, as she stared messed up cards. The blonde shrugged and went back to the group, smirking.

"She's fine," the sharpshooter said, before getting hit by Piper. "Ow! What I do?!" he exclaimed, while rubbing the back of his head, while glaring at the tanned girl.

"Finn, she's probably homesick." she said, as they all turned to Emma again. She was blowing on what seem to absolutely nothing. The team then freaked out; this wasn't her usual normal nature. She was usually hyper, running around the Condor and sometimes playing with her Pokey-man (That's what the Storm Hawks said after they ask about what she was playing) game. This wasn't like her at all.

The Gaian looked at them with tired eyes. "I said I'm fine." she retorted, trying to smile. But she knew she couldn't do it. She really missed her home, but she knew she had to stay. This world was so cool; even it contradicts her fear of high places. Not only that, she still had one thing to do, a thing that she knew that she wouldn't be doing any time soon.

"So, that still doesn't mean you look fine." the sky knight said, as he put a hand on the brunette's shoulder. "Besides, we're all friends here. If you have a problem, you can talk to us about it." She blinked, before turning to the rest, who were trying to seem presentable to her. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

"It's okay. You have other things to worry about… Like the, what were they called again… Cyclonians?" the older teen said, pretending to be dumb. She hated it, but it was necessary. She now knew that the sky knights were the yin to the Talons yang. And she was with the Talons for a while, before they decided to put her in prison for life. They might outcast her for that. So, she acted like she didn't know anything.

The group stared at her, with widened eyes. This wasn't the Gaian they knew, or maybe it was a different side that they never really see. They never really had gotten to talk to her much, probably because she was hiding off somewhere, or working on something… Weird. The red head was about to speak up, until someone else came on.

"H-Help! Someone, please, help me!" called someone, as they all turned to the radio. It was an older female voice, crying out for help. She sounded desperate meaning that something big was up. They all moved closer as Finn picked it up.

"Hello, this is Finn of the Storm Hawks," he said, before adding, "Sharpshooter and still single." This received a whack from Piper as the sky knight grabbed transmitter from the other boy. The blonde glared at the blue-haired girl.

"Sorry, this is Aerrow. What's your status?" the red head said, as everybody continued to wait. For some reason, this all seemed vaguely familiar.

There was a long pause before the voice came back on, "My name is Katie. I- … My sister and I were kidnapped by Cyclonians. They wanted to use us for experiments. My little sister… I don't know where they taken her. I've escaped when they landed."

Everyone looked shocked as they heard. The Talons' standards of humanity were getting lower and lower. First, it tricking kids with their propaganda; now, it was experimenting with them. It just kept getting sicker and sicker.

"Okay, where are you?" the sky knight asked, trying to sound serious. In truth, he didn't know how to handle it. It felt almost too good to be true, almost like a trap.

"I'm… I'm on a terra… Terra Amazonia they called it… I have to go now!" and a sudden click ended the message. Then, the leader turned to everyone with a look in his eye. It was the "We're going on a dangerous mission" look.

"Stork! Plot a course for Terra Amazonia! Piper! Get your locator ready! Finn and Junko! Ready your skimmers!" he commanded, as everyone nodded and went to do their jobs. The only one in the room that wasn't doing anything was Emma.

The Gaian looked freaked. That voice sounded familiar, someone that she wanted to rescue. But it couldn't be… It couldn't.

"Emma, are you alright?" asked a voice, as the older teen jumped. She turned to Junko, who looked at her with a concern face. The brunette nodded, before picking up her scattered cards and leaving. She did not notice that the Tower card she picked up was upside-down when she left.

As the Storm Hawks watched her retreated, Finn asked, "What's up with her?" The rest shrugged. It was probably nothing; after all they knew that the Gaian didn't know anything about the Cyclonia.

* * *

"No way! There is no way in Atmos that the Cyclonians would let my sister go so easily!" Emma said, as she paced through hanger bay. The voice that she heard was definitely Katie's, but it seemed too good to be true. The last time she saw her older sibling was when they tried to escape, but the Talons got them and tried to separate the two for their experiments. The eldest was probably having a mind sweep back at their empire instead of running on some other terra. It just… It just was too good to be true.

"But then again…" the teen said, before continuing, "I am underestimating her after all. She could escape; she had the basic Talon training as me, and is more advanced. She could have snuck out, while the grunts were busy with something else. But still… It's still unlikely!"

Realizing that she was talking to herself for the past several minutes on how this was too convincing, the brunette silenced herself, and sighed. She was having conflicts into going on the mission or not. The good side to it was that she could save Katie and they can go back to Earth. Then, the sisters can pretend like nothing ever happen. The bad side was that it was a trap and the younger could be back to being Cyclonia's prisoner again. Oh, what to choose?

There was another option of telling the Storm Hawks, but did she really want to tell them? She didn't want to go through telling them of how she lied to them for the pass couple of days, and the interrogation that they would perform once they realized that she was with the Talons. Not only that, she was representing Earth. If she was really working for the Cyclonians, then all of Earth was for Cyclonia's tyranny.

'So, I'm down to two options.' she thought, before looking up. She couldn't decide between the two. So, she can up with the next best thing to make a decision: the gold coin.

Emma took out an Atmosian gold coin and marked it with a scratched-out X. 'X says I go. No X, I stay.' she thought, as she flipped it into the air. She watched as the coin turned in the air, before catching it into her hand. She placed it flat on the back of her hand, subconsciously hoping that it would be no X. Once she revealed, she groaned.

It was X.

'Well… I should get started then.' she thought, before going off to gather supplies. Little did she know that someone… Or something was watching her.

* * *

Once they made it to Amazonia, the Storm Hawks got on their skimmers and flew off. Since the terra was basically a rain forest, it was impossible to land in a clearing for something as big as the Condor. So, the flying motorcycles had to go to the wilderness below. Emma was depressed about this; she really hated heights.

She sighed as she stood outside on the Condor's built-in runway, trying not to look down or faint. It was taking all her will to not panic. For her, this was going to be reliving her worst childhood.

She didn't bring her things with her, for the teen had a feeling she might come back. The only things she had got were a parachute for gliding and her ninja headband. The headband tied across her forehead as it glisten in the night sky. She sighed as she waited.

Soon, the wind picked up, before the girl turned to the bridge's windows. So far, she couldn't see Stork's face. 'Good.' she thought, before she started to run. Then, with all her might, she jumped.

Before the Gaian started to fall, she quickly pulled the cord for many a time, until it released the chute. This was probably her first time gliding, but she always her to fly with the wind, not against it. So, she tried to fly with the wind to the remote terra, while looking up at the same time.

Unfortunately, there was a miscalculation with the wind as she started to go lower and lower, until she hit the wall a foot from actually ground. She winced before grabbing the dusty ground, with her fingers. With much of her strength, she pulled herself up and took off the parachute before the wind could pick up again. Then, she looked forward into the jungle, feeling scared, yet happy at the same time.

"Well, let's go." she said, before running off into the deep unknown.

* * *

"Come on! Just one catch!"

"NO!" yelled Repton to his younger brother, Spitz. His brothers were getting annoyed with the waiting. But after what the Dark Ace told them, it was necessary. It was a plan to get the annoying Lizard Girl out and alone. While the Storm Hawks were off searching for some "escapee", the ex-Talon would be wondering around the terra, like a lost deer ready for the hunt.

Unfortunately, the other three didn't see it his way. They were too impatient and saw the sky knight squadron flying around the terra. Hunger had taken over their minds as they wanted to munch on the birdies. But it wasn't part of the plan. Besides, the Raptors didn't have their Bone Wings. They were at a big disadvantage if they wanted to face those punks.

After a moment of silence, Leugy whined, "When are we going to go after her? I'm hungry." The lead Raptor glared at his fatter sibling, who inched back sacredly. The older lizard was getting annoyed by this as he growled.

"It issss when we get the ssssignal." he answered, before turning to the mountain. He had been waiting for what seemed to be hours. Even when the Storm Hawks passed them by, the Talons should have showed the signal by now. Was the stupid girl paranoid or had she seen right through the trap?

Apparently not, the lizard saw a light flashing on the mountain. He smiled as he turned to his brothers, his tongue flicking. "Okay, you can hunt now." he said, as the other three began the hunt.

* * *

Emma continued to walk through the jungle, looking for her older sister. She didn't know how long she was searching, but she felt that it was long. The more she looked, the more she was beginning to think that was just a prank call. She was about to turn back until she saw something come out.

It was a girl, a slender, petite girl who was almost as tall as the Gaian. The girl turned to her with brown eyes. Suddenly, the younger girl recognized her. It was Katie, but for some reason, it wasn't at the same time. She started to tense up a bit.

The older girl looked at Emma and started to move towards her. "E-Emma…" she said, as the lighter-brunettes eyes widened. It was Katie's voice, but it sounded strange, like it wasn't like her sister after all. But the younger girl didn't care; she walked over to the other girl and hugged her, out of sympathy.

"Katie…" she said, as she smiled. She had finally found something she lost. But it wasn't right, especially for what happen next. The older sister slowly put up her arms. But instead of hugging her, she instantly went for the neck. Now, the other girl knew that this wasn't her sister when she felt herself choking to death.

Out of immediate action, the Gaian quickly started to punch and kick in order to get whoever this was off. But she felt her life giving away every second. It was only a hard punch to the face was when the person got off and transformed back into a doll.

'Wait a second, a doll.' The teen asked, as she turned to the thing lying on the ground. Yes, it was a human-sized doll, with movable joints and a blank face. In the middle were two, perfectly crystals; one purplish and the other a lighter purple. Emma flipped it over to the back to only discover a small card on the back of it. It looked written in messy English as she picked and began to read it.

It read, "ka KA, yOu F eLL iN to o uR tr AP. WE Ka Ve yOUr siSteR a T OuR cAMP. kOPE Yo U LI ke beINg RApTOR L Unch. SiGN, yOUr eNEmIEs, tKe TaLons."

(In normal speech, "Ha Ha, you fell into our trap. We have your sister at our camp. Hope you like being Raptor lunch. Sign, your enemies, the Talons." Now, to return you to our schedule program.)

"What the crap?!" she said, as she threw the card down, and then she started to knock her head in idiocy. She was right, it was a trap, but not for the Storm Hawks, but for the earthling. She knew it was, but she still fell for it anyway. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" At least the older sister was still here and had to find the camp to get her back.

Suddenly, she heard some crunching and turned to where it was occurring. 'This must be their trap.' she thought, as started to move back. The crunching kept coming closer and closer, until it stopped. She sighed in relief, but suddenly felt herself fall to the ground. She looked up and in the moonlight was Spitz, with drool coming down his face. She waited a few seconds before kicking him in the stomach. The lizard got off, and the human got up, only to see that the two weren't alone.

The muscular lizard and the fat one were there, with their double-sided swords in hand. She turned back to the skinny Raptor, who also had his sword out. Now, she knew she was outnumbered; the Gaian could protect herself if they didn't have their weapons, but this was more of a life and death match now. So, there was only one thing that she could do.

She ran.

The lizards smirked as they took off after her also, practically catching up. She knew that she couldn't run forever, so she started to go through the densest forests around. Even though it slowed her down, it might do the same for the Raptors also. But once she looked back, she realized she had made a miscalculation. She was the only one going slower, and the lizards were catching up to her more.

It wasn't before long that all three tackled her and started to fight. Even if she didn't see it, the teen felt their claws digging into her skin and their teeth tearing up her clothing. She growled as she struggled, but so far her efforts were in vain. One of them raised their sword, ready to kill her.

Suddenly, she felt an inner instinct telling her what to do. Without hesitation, she turned her head to the nearest thing, which happened to be Leugy's tail. Then, the human did one thing that most others would deem as uncivilized; she bit at the fat lizard's tail.

"Owies!" said the plump reptile, as he instantly grabbed his tail out of her mouth. The other two stopped and looked at their brother. He was stroking his tail, trying to ease out the pain. One the pain was gone, the three turned back to the girl, who was a smidge of blood stained under her mouth. The same thought ran across their minds as they saw the anger in her eyes and heard the tone of growl. Losing his confidence, Leugy got scared and ran away, soon to be followed by Spitz and Hoerk. They all didn't want to end up as dinner.

Emma shook her head, as she started to stand up. She didn't know what came over her; it was probably the excitement of almost being killed. Then, she realized what could have happen. She beat herself up mentally at the risk she was taking for her sister. Should she continue? … Well, she started and felt like she could finish it.

The Gaian started to look at the battle damage, realizing how deep the Raptors dug. She was bleeding, but due to the amount of wounds, it wasn't life-threatening. She was stuck on some random terra, where there were lizards who want to eat her. 'Well, it could be worst.' she thought, before hearing some thunder.

The brunette jumped, before feeling the rain coming down on her. Drats, she thought that phrase would never have an effect what mood it was in Atmos. It didn't affect her back on Earth whenever she said it, so why did it decide to affect her now?

Sighing, the girl decided to find some place where it wasn't wet and lightning-attracted. Unfortunately, she didn't realize the bread crumbs she was leaving behind.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Storm Hawks came back to the Condor, disappointed. It turns out that their mission was in vain as there was no escapee to begin with. They first searched the terra, and then asked the locals about the girl. It turns out both leads were a dead end, and decided to end their mission before doing anything else.

Once they had gotten back, Finn decided to show some of his "hospitality" to their guest as he walked through the hall, with some honey and feathers in a bucket. It was going to be the prank of the centaury in his mind. Once the Gaian wakes up from her nap, she was going to a walking, talking chicken. He smiled with mischief, as he made it to the outside of her room.

"Finn, are you sure about this?" asked Junko's voice, as the blonde turned to his best friend. The sharpshooter rolled his eyes at the wallop's cautiousness.

"Yea! I mean, how it could not go wrong?" he retorted, making it sound like it wasn't a big deal. His friend was worrying to much anyway. This could help lighten up his mood. Besides, the brunette was fun to mess with.

"Well…" the strongman said, before continuing, "Do you remember when you did the "Water in the Bucket" on her last time?" The blonde shuttered at the thought. It was just the other day; the Gaian opened the fridge and had gotten wet. The two had a good laugh and the girl didn't seem to mind. The next day, when the guys were stinking and dirty from fixing the pipes, she dumped the water on their heads. When they yelled at her, she simply said,

"_I thought that's how you take bathes in Atmos._"

"… So?" questioned Finn, with a raised eyebrow. He was really confused by this. The wallop smacked his face at his friend's brain density.

"What if she thinks that the honey and feathers are our way to wake-up people?" he asked, sounding like he already knew the answer. Suddenly, the sharpshooter realized what he was holding was his death wish. Yelping, he threw it in a random direction, not looking where he was throwing it at.

"Ack!" yelled another voice, as the two turned with scared looks. There stood Piper, which honey and feathers all over her. She stared at the two with a fuming glare. At least she didn't have to ask them what they were doing.

Deciding not to get stuck with more chores than usual, Finn asked, "Piper, what are you doing here?" The tanned girl sighed; it looks like her secret mission came to a crushing halt.

"I was looking for Emma," she answered, "For some reason, we have a parachute missing." Both of the boys sighed, count on some strange girl to find some of the replacement parachutes and make them into tent. She did it only once in order to make her own private section of the Condor. It really didn't work since they were being taken away.

The specialist pressed the button and opened the door to Emma's room. Their jaws dropped at the sight at it. Even with a few items, the Gaian still somehow got it messy as heck. It was still above Finn's standards, but still, it was a wreck. It was a miracle if the older teen could find anything in this mess.

The three started to explore, just curious to see how their guest could live like this. The bed sheets were bundle into a pile with a lump, presumably the other girl sleeping, while there was dust on the floor. There were also anime doodles along the walls. Some of the pictures were Storm Hawks doing their usual things, while some of them cross over into the sketches with the Talons; there was even one of the Gaian having a tea party with the Raptors (And yes, Spitz was in a dress). The two humans were surprised by how almost accurate these were.

"Hey! How does she know what these people look like anyway?!" The blonde argued. By people, he meant the Cyclonians and by "she", he meant Emma. There was no way that the older teen could have seen the Talons and drew them accurately.

Piper looked at him answering, "Remember, the Talons were at the Temple of the Beast when we were last time. She could have seen them and then drew these."

"Oh, yea…" Finn retorted, "Then, how can she draw Master Cyclonis?" Then, he pointed a picture of Cyclonis' head, with a sentence under it. They couldn't understand it, since it was written in the Gaian language, but it was probably something that didn't mean anything. The specialist was about to argue back, until a yelp was heard.

Both of them turned to see Junko standing away from the bed. There was a flatten-out area as the wallop looked at it, scared. Then, he whimpered, "I think I sat on her." Both of the humans looked, horrified. But then, we're getting suspicious as there wasn't any reaction to the weight of the anthro. They approached the bed slowly, grabbed the covers, and quickly removed them. Expecting to see a sleeping girl, their jaws dropped at what they saw.

It was a teddy bear and a bunch of pillows.

"Mr. Grizzley!" exclaimed Junko, as he quickly grabbed his teddy bear and started to snuggle it. While he was happy that he found his teddy bear, the others stood there with pale faces. It all made sense now; the secrets, the strangeness, the sneakiness, it was all clear. The Gaian was a spy; but just a spy for Gaia,

But a spy for Cyclonia.

* * *

"Shit, Shit, Shit!" Emma said, as she ran through the rain. Right now, it was down pouring like a storm. She could see the thunder and lightning also. No wonder why it was a rain forest on this terra. She quickly got under a nice pile of rocks before she could catch a cold.

She took off her ninja headband and started to dry herself off. It didn't rain this much when she was back home. Sure, her home was like a rain forest, but it was only off for three months during the summer. Now, she felt like she had been to the Amazon Rain Forest. Once she was dry to the best, she started to stop the bleeding wounds. She really didn't want to die from lost of blood, after she ran from being rain on. Then, she turned to pick up her headband, before seeing a green feather next to it.

She looked up to a see the same strange bird that took the tracer in the first place, a Mynall bird, if that what the strange guy called it. It probably wasn't the same bird that stole the tracer in the first place. Heck, there could be a million of these birds out in Atmos. But then, she realized it was the same one when it started to eye her bandana with interest.

"No!" the Gaian said, before picking it back up. "No stealing! I don't think I have the energy to chase you again!" With running away from Raptors and the rain, she felt a little bit exhausted. Not only that, her feet hurt from the rough terrain. If this took her headband, it was bound to never to be seen again.

The bird didn't budged and looked at her curiously. For the human, it was strange for her to see a bird acting like this, like it was human. Maybe she was just being paranoid since it was a bird and all. She usually acted like this whenever she saw the crows at her school. It was probably from the short clips of the _Birds _movie.

"… You want to know what this is…" the teen asked, as the bird continued to stare at her. Even if it didn't make movements, she continued anyway. "This is a Naruto missing-nin headband. I like it, even if my sister and parents don't." She looked at the bird as it continued to stare at her. She was getting freaked out by this.

'Damn it, the Cyclonians still has my sister and I'm talking to a creepy bird.' She thought, as she watched it stared at her. The teen felt creep out, but it acted like Radarr normally would. It was strange; like it wasn't really a bird.

She sighed, as she looked down, saying, "You know… I'm not sure if I should continue this or not… I mean, even if my sister was at the camp, how am I going to get her off this rock. I mean, I know she could fly a skimmer, but for how long. And where would we go and do. And before that, should I be able to make it. The Raptors are here and I know it won't be long before they track me down. And I can't run in this environment. I also don't fight well, so I don't what to do if I get into a fight with four lizards… This probably wasn't my best ideas."

"At least it's better than doing nothing." she heard a voice say, an extremely familiar voice. Emma turned her head to see that the bird was still staring at her. Now, she knew she was probably going crazy. She was about to ask, but the bird flapped his wings and flew away.

The girl turned to the entrance to see that the rain had lightened up a little, but it was suitable to travel again. She sighed, as she started to walk, hoping to get to the camp before anything else could go wrong.

* * *

Aerrow sat on the bridge, looking at the rain. The storm had come in so fast, that they had difficulty flying away from Amazonia. They didn't find the escapee, but it was better than having wrecked skimmers and a cruiser. Besides, the fugitive could have taken care of herself. If she got out of a Talon transport, then she could survive the tempest.

The sky knight turned to his co-pilot, who looked worried for some reason. Lately, Radarr acted sneaky, especially around their guest. The animal spied on her, and whenever she passed him, he growled in a low tone. Now, it was like a forty-five degree turned into depression. The redhead wanted to ask what was wrong, but since the furry couldn't talk human speech, it would be hard to understand what he was saying anyway. So, the human said, "Radarr, what is wrong with you?"

"I'll tell you what's wrong." Stork's voice broke, as the human boy turned to the merb. He then went into his usual "doom" rant, "Letting a Gaian onboard, that's what. Do you even know what side is she on?" The human raised an eyebrow; has everyone gone loony today?

"What do you mean by that?" Aerrow asked, with curiosity in his eyes. He knew the carrier pilot didn't like Emma because of her birthplace and how she has "diseases that can do a million deaths". But by the way he sounded; it was like there was something else worst than that.

"… You know the ship we found her on." the anthro asked, as the boy nodded, continuing, "The ship was Talon Destroyer by silhouette, and the radio she contacted us on uses a Talon frequency."

"So, you think she's a Talon spy…?" the sky knight asked, trying to make it sound like the merb was joking. When his facial expression of his seriousness hadn't change, the human knew that he was telling his opinion. This was bad; even if the girl was Gaian and didn't speak too much, that still didn't make her a Talon spy.

"Stork, I know how much you hate Emma, but that still doesn't mean you should think that she's some sort of evil creature that wants to ruin your life. Besides, there could be a million reasons of how she could be on that ship. There is no way that Emma is a Talon spy."

"Hey! Aerrow! Emma is a Talon spy!" Finn yelled, as he, Piper, and Junko ran into the bridge. The sky knight and the merb turned to them with weird out faces. Great, now there was really something going on. Why did everyone think that the brunette was a Talon spy?

"We've been into her room and there are doodles of Raptors and Cyclonians! Heck, there is even one of Master Cyclonis herself." Piper said, as the redhead's eyes flared. Now, that was strange. How did their guest know how to draw Master Cyclonis if she didn't see the evil empress? Maybe, he should ask her.

"Look, I know you guys are excited. But maybe we should ask Emma about this. Where is she anyway?" he asked, while looking at his crew. They all gave him a grave look, as they knew the answer to this. The specialist walked up to him, and looked with very depressed eyes.

"She's gone." she said, with sorrow in her voice. Not the sorrow of a friend leaving, but the sorrow of a friend betraying them. The green-eyed boy stared at her, before turning to the others. Their looks confirmed her truth, but she wouldn't do that. She was too afraid of leaving the Condor in midair.

"Dude, not only did she use Junko's teddy as a dummy, but one of the parachutes is missing too." The blonde explained, as the wallop nodded in agreement. Aerrow now was worried. If their guest was really a spy, then all their secrets were about to be given to their enemies. He wanted to go after her, but since they were so far away and the worst of the storm had hit them hard. The only thing the sky knight can do was waiting… And pray that their "friend" was safe.

* * *

Repton examined the tracks and blood the stupid girl made. He couldn't believe that his brothers let their catch get away. They had her in their hands, but if some nameless crybaby didn't make a scene about his tail, the Raptors would be eating meat by now.

At least there was a trail of breadcrumbs to lead them to the girl.

"Ssssshe'ssss... Is heading wessst." the lizard muttered, before turning to his siblings, who were cowering before his angry figure, "Now, why did you let her essscape again?!"

"Because she was going to eat us!" Leugy said, as he exaggerated it a bit. He was now afraid of the girl after she bit him. His tail was in a bandage because of the bite, and now, he was afraid that she was going to eat him and his brothers. His knees shook with fear.

Repton rolled his eyes at that answer. "You idiotssss, that wasss a defenssssive insssstinct that humansss lossst a long time ago." His brothers looked at them with curious look. The humans knew how to bite as well too? The lizards thought they were too smart for that.

"What do you mean by that?" Hoerk asked, extremely confused. The lead lizard sighed at his brother's question. The three never bothered to study humans more closely like his mother did. When the humans decided to hunt on Bogaton, without any knowledge of the Raptors…

"Humanssss were once animalssss like we were… Before they decided that we were… Inferior… Monsssterssss." Repton hissed, as he stared down at his kin, "They couldn't sssstand ussss, sssso they decided that we were trophiesss for their hunt, creaturesss to hunt for their own gainssss." The three looked at him with freaked-out faces; they never seen their older sibling act like this. It was like he now wanted blood.

"That'sss why I will not let one lousssy human run-away now!" he yelled, as he went to catch up with his prey at fast speed. His brothers watched in complete silence. Their older brother was obsessed; and whenever he was obsessed with a hunt, that meant trouble.

Hoerk, being second-to-oldest, looked at his brothers and said, "Come on, let's follow Repton before he hurts himself." Then, he followed Repton, before getting Leugy to follow him. Spitz blinked; as he watched his two siblings walk away.

"… Thupid human girl." He commented, before following them also.

* * *

Emma growled, as she made another pit-stop in her journey. Now, the rain was coming down and her wounds were giving her problems. She now realized that they were leaving a trail, and was trying to get rid of the source. Unfortunately, she forgot to bring a First-Aid kit and had to use the plant leaves instead. It wasn't as good as a Band-Aid, but it was the next best thing.

"Dang it!" she muttered, as the Gaian, grabbed another bunch of greenery and put it over her wounds. She messed up big time. She thought it would be a quick rescue mission: get her sister, and then go back to the Condor. But now, with the Raptors and all, it seemed impossible to do so. She was beating herself up for doing something as stupid as this. She was old enough to not do something so irresponsible.

"… At least this place is beautiful." she commented, while staring into the jungle. It's was strange to see some so exotic to be in this place. The teen had live in a modernized world that was based on technology. This world was based on technology also, but maybe they were still in the phase of Industrial Revolution. It was nice though, to see what was once Earth's own terrain before the population growth took place. It made her feel… Peaceful for some reason.

Suddenly, the girl heard a whirly sound for some reason; it sounded like something spinning and cutting at the same time. She turned to the source, and then quickly ducked, as a yellow-glowing boomerang flew above her. She slightly got up, before the boomerang came back. She went down and watched as it was caught, by none other than Repton himself. With his cold-blooded stare, the teen knew that she was prey.

'Dang it, can't run because I'm exhausted, can't hide because he'll smell me out, and can't fight because I know he'll beat me to a pulp.' she thought, as she stood up, 'I think I'm doom.' Then, she shook her head and thought, 'Stop! You're sounding like Stork.' But before she could do anything, Repton tackled the Gaian to the ground. She stared into his eyes, realizing that all of common sense was gone from him and she was really dead.

"You sssshould be glad that it hasss gone on longer than expected." he hissed, his tongue flicking, "You have been a worthy catch to allude me all thissss time." The lizard raised his weapon to strike down on the girl. She watched in constant terror; feeling like all time was slowing down. Then, she started to hear something, a voice…? A voice that she had never heard before.

"_Do you really want to lose?_"

'… No.'

"_So, what's stopping you?_"

'I'm not… Sure.'

"_This isn't Earth. Different world means different rules. If you want to win, then fight!_"

Suddenly, Emma felt herself stopped thinking. She knew that she didn't want to die; she had things to live for. Even if the odds were against her, she should go full out. So, she lifted her legs and thrust them into Repton's stomach. The Raptor fell backward from the kick, letting go of his weapon and landing on his back. She got back up and stared at him, and when he got up, he glared at her with fire in his eyes.

"Why, you little…" he growled, before he tackled her again. Soon, the two had gotten into a muddy and bloody brawl. Even though the Gaian was going full-out, Repton still had his claws and tail giving him the advantage. But there was something different about her attacks that made the lizard quivered a little. She was combining the fighting styles she learned in her life, with the basic moves she learned from video games. Not only that, she was fighting like a beast; a very angry beast.

Soon, a hard kick from the teen made the lizard fall to the ground. He was about to stand up, but failed when she landed on him with the boomerang next to his neck. She growled, as her hair lay over her right eye in a mess. That's when he knew that she had lost all of her sanctity now.

"Where's my sister?! Damn it!" she question, as the Raptor raised an… eye. The human had him ready to kill and all she could ask was that stupid question. At least she had morals. "I know that the Cyclonians still have my sister here! There is no way they could mimic her voice like that! So, tell me where my sister is or I'll KILL YA!!" The only sound for a few seconds was the rain, but then the anthro started to laugh, a mocking laugh that made her more raging.

"You think you can kill me! You don't have the gutsss…" Repton said, as he continued to laugh some more. Emma growled, before moving the weapon closer to his neck. That got him to stop snickered; but it wouldn't be long before he could call her bluff. No matter what, she couldn't bring herself to kill the rogue. That would make him as worst as anyone who has killed someone on purpose. That and he was still part of her favorite species.

They both stared at each other, until the lizard decided to answer her question, "About Northwesssst of here, there'sss a Talon camp where you ssssissster issss. Ssssshe sssshould be in a big tent." The Gaian smiled a bit, and then set the weapon next to the Raptor's head. After that, she got up and started to run to where the lizard said it was. He blinked before looking up at the rain. 'I wonder if…'

"BROTHER!!" yelled Leugy, as he tackled his big brother, "You're alive!" He huggled the annoyed lizard, as the other two came up. They were a little wait for the fight, but they still wanted to help him with his bruises. Unfortunately, he didn't want his younger siblings' help and pushed the fat lizard off of him.

"Come on! We have to make it back to the Dark Ace! Plan B issss in action!" he yelled, before stomping off. All three lizards blinked and turned to each other. Then, they all asked what was in their minds.

"What's Plan B?"  
"What'th Plan B?"-Spitz

* * *

Several minutes afterwards, Emma was near the edge of the camp, hiding under the brush as she circled around the campsite several times. She did several surveillances and they have all been the same. No Dark Ace, no other Talon Commanders, and most of the Talon grunts were off duty and eating. It seemed too good to be true, but she did it anyway. This was probably her last chance of getting her sister back.

The Gaian quietly snuck in and started to sneak from place to place, wishing she had that ninja speed that made her both fast and invisible at the same time. She was in a hurry so nothing else bad can happen. But a sudden movement could cause alert, and having not gain her full energy yet, she didn't want to get into a fight with fifty Talons. She made it to a big tent with no one catching her and peeked inside to confirm her suspicion.

It was dark inside, but there was a chair that had ropes around it. It was presumably where Katie was. The girl snuck in and went to the ropes, thinking, 'Don't worry, Katie, I'll get you out of here.' But before she could start untying, the lights went on, causing her to be in shock.

There was nothing in that chair; it was just another dummy. The teen started to think of how stupid she was for falling for a stupid trick. Then, she heard some clapping and turned around, staring at the figure of all of Atmos feared. The Dark Ace smirked, before staring at the girl with his blood red eyes. Then, he said the very words that all video gamers feared,

"Game Over."

* * *

Author's Notes:

… Finally! I am done! … Comment: Not how I envisioned it in the first place. Probably because of the plot holes in it, like how to get Emma on the terra without anyone finding out.

Well, nothing else new here, except for the doll. I based it off of the dolls from the Slayers Next series where Lina and the gang enter a tower and are surrounded by living dolls on their first entrance. That and other anime scenes I don't remember. Kinda scary actually. I don't own the origins of the doll either. Also, the voice, I'm not going to tell you who is saying that, you'll probably find out while reading the story. But if you have any hypothesizes, please tell me.

And if you don't get the Master Cyclonis picture, maybe if I put down something that was related to Orwell's 1984, maybe you'll get it. But that probably ruins the element of the Storm Hawks thinking that Emma is a spy, which she's not.

As for reviews, I like to thank Tuberculosis Queen, Yani, and Eldonyx for reviewing. For Yani, I don't know whether my story is good, but if you want some good Storm Hawks stories, there are some by really great authors in the SH section if you like to read. I would recommend some for you if you like. Also, Eldonyx, if this is what you haven't envision for the Dark Ace's great plan, I am sorry.

Please Read and Review, people!


	9. Chapter 9: Friends in Hidden Places

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners

_Chapter 9: Friends in Hidden Places_

Emma believed in Karma; Karma was the supernatural force that controlled the universe through the acts of a person. If the person does good deeds, they'll be rewarded, but if a person did bad deeds, then they'll only receive punishment. Right now, in a Talon camp on a remote terra, staring into the face of a person she despises, the Gaian was reminiscing on all the bad things she did in her lifetime to end up in this situation.

The Dark Ace stared her down like he was looking into her soul. Even though the teen hated him, she gave him some credit of his fighting skills. Back in the days of her Talon training, she overheard some of the Talon grunts of how he took down many sky knights in battle, including the original Storm Hawks. She really didn't what they all meant by that, but now, with being with the new Storm Hawks and all; she had a wider sense of what the man was capable of. But that still didn't stop her from glaring.

He smiled as he paced toward her like a hunter cornering his prey. He knew she couldn't hurt him; the girl was unarmed and her battle with Repton made her tired and weak. It also left her with wild hair, bloody scratches, and torn clothes. It was kinda funny actually; maybe it would teach her a lesson.

"Heh, long time, no see, Gaian." The black-haired man mocked, as he stopped just an inch away from the kid. He leaned forward to make himself more intimidating to her. It worked, but she didn't try to show her fear. If she showed that she was afraid of him, he'll win. At least, it was the way all bullies thought on her world.

He eyed her up and down, and then commented, "You've change a lot the last time we met. It was only a few days ago that we set you up for that trap so we can have your sister and take you away without a fuss." The brunette growled, remembering how he used a cheap trick taser to knock her out. But she didn't know how he meant by change; sure, her hair grown a few inches longer, but she was pretty sure he meant mentally. She knew it was true when he said, "Aerrow must have taught you how to try and not give up."

Emma puffed out her cheeks, feeling that it was an insult. The commander could have treated her nicer. Heck, she was with the Talons for a while; that would make them… Something, but she remembered he wasn't nice to anyone except to Cyclonis, so she should have take this as a Former-Teacher-To-Ex-Cadet compliment. But she shook her head and stared at him, asking, "Where is my sister?"

The Dark Ace looked at her and smiled, saying, "Well, I could let you see her, as a constellation prize for coming this far." Even if it sounded like a nice gesture, it still felt like an insult. Unfortunately, she didn't notice him motioning his hand as some sort of signal. She glared at him, until she heard a familiar voice.

"E-Emma…" the voice said, sounding like Katie's. It was coming from outside the tent. The teen smiled happily, forgetting all reason and running to where her older sister was, past the black-haired man. He only smiled wickedly, especially when he heard signs of a struggle. A few seconds later, the brunette came out, with an oaf restraining her by the arms, a pink-haired witch, smirking back at her superior commander with an Atmosian tape-recorder in hand, and two Talon grunt pointing their staves at her.

"You're right, Dark Ace. She is fun to mess with," Ravess said, as she went to staring at the Gaian. The said-person glared and stuck out her tongue for it was the only thing she could do at the moment. The older woman glared at her back. The raven-haired man sighed; it was irritating to see someone like Ravess to be ridicule by a child.

The teen girl turned back to the Dark Ace and yelled, "Where's my sister, damn it?!" He stared at her for a moment, before laughing. Soon, everyone except her was laughing. Was it a joke to them, because it was very serious to her? The high commander stopped laughing and turned to the brunette, with a mocking look on him face.

"Your older sister is back on Cyclonia. We only say she was here because you were gullible enough to believe that." he said, as Emma blushed with embarrassment. He continued, "We needed you to be alone and with your strange behavior of keeping things to yourself, we knew you wouldn't tell the Storm Hawks about your past experience here and try to rescue your sister. I think that's fitting for you; being a traitor for someone who betrayed you in the first place."

The girl glared, but then gasped at the truth of her actions. In some point of view, the Storm Hawks could see this as treason since they all assumed that she was on that ship when the Murk Raiders attacked. And without her to defend her own privacy, they'll discover her doodles of the Cyclonians. And she assumed that the first thing that would come into their minds is 'Hey! The Gaian is a spy'. She looked down in disgrace from not realizing her mistake.

As the Talons laughed, the Dark Ace stopped and commanded, "That's enough! Snipe, you get Gaian-watching duty." That got the giant to end his stupid cackle. He stared at the raven-haired man with an angry look on his face.

"Why did I get stuck with stupid Gaian-watching duty?" he asked, making it sound like it was an insult to his ability. His sister glared at him, making him flinched. She was really scary when she's angry.

"Because…" she started, "You lost at Rock-Paper-Scissors, remember?" Snipe blinked, thinking back a little bit. First, he thought back to when he broke his rattle. Then, he fast forward to when he, Ravess, and the Dark Ace were arguing who was going to watch the prisoner until the prison transport. So, they decided to play Rock-Paper-Scissors, in which losers get to watch. He lost for two reasons; one was because he really wasn't trying hard, and the second was the two other commanders chose paper over rock. It was a phenomenon on how they got him on the first turn. Even if it didn't mess with his plans, he still was irritated that he lost. The giant watched the two leave in silent rage.

"Well, I guess we'll leave too." said one of the grunts, as they were about to leave, but before the soldiers could walk out, their superior officer thrown a semi-conscious girl at the two. They blinked in confusion for why he would do that.

"Oh no, you're staying here with me. She needs cleaning." Snipe said, glaring at the two peons. They blinked, before paling. They were soldiers of war and they had to watch over a little, otherworldly girl. What a rip-off.

"Dude, I quit King Burger for this?!"

"Hey, the work and pay is lousy, but at least the retirement plan is good."

* * *

Throughout the Talon camp, the Elites saluted to their superiors as they walked out. The Dark Ace smiled as he reminisced on what he did today. Not only did his army capture one lousy pest, but he probably broke her like a tiny doll. But there was still one thing he needed to do, but he didn't remember what it was.

"DARK ASSSCE!! We need to talk!!" Oh yea, that.

The commander turned to see Repton and his brothers. For some reason, the lizard looked angrier than usually. Maybe it was because he lost his chance to have Gaian a La Mode.

Sighing, the male human looked at Ravess and said, "Will you leave us for a moment? Repton and I need to talk."The woman humped and walked away to her skimmer. As he watched her back, the black-haired man looked at the raptor and said, "What is it?"

"We know what the girl isssss, Dark Asssce, and whatever you are planning to do with, I ssssuggesssst you sssstopp now." answered the Raptor. The man frowned at this; he didn't know how the rogue knew about the prisoner now, but this meant trouble. That lackey wasn't supposed to find out about the captive's heritage, but maybe he can worked out something where it was still a secret, or at least make the lizard look crazy.

"I don't know what you are talking about," the Dark Ace said, before turning to Repton with a glare. "And whatever you thought she was, erase that from that petite brain of yours." The lead Raptor growled. Their superior wasn't making a big deal out of this, but it was. How many Gaians have successfully cross over to the world of Atmos after the Gaia/Atmos War?

"You haven't gotten it yet?!" yelled Repton, "Ssshe'sss a Gaian!! Everyone in the entire Atmosss alwaysss knew that they'll come back! And if there issss one here, then-!"

"Then, nothing, Raptor," the man said, as he turned to the four with a frightening expression, "She isn't who you think she is, and if she was, she is not a concern. You shouldn't worry about things that are none of your concern." Then, he strutted for switchblade, with three scared, little lizards and a big, angry one.

The eldest was furious; he tried to give out some advice, but they brushed it off like it wasn't a concern. The girl was a Gaian; her smell, her clothes, and her behavior proved it. Well, it didn't prove why she wanted to hang around the Raptors, but still it was plain as day that she wasn't from Atmos. And the Cyclonians are taking it like it was a speck. This made the leader hungry.

"Come on! We're going hunting!" he shouted, as he started to march into the jungles. The three brothers watched as he entered the forest. Then, they followed him for two reasons. One reason of how much his brother can get into trouble when he's angry, and two, they were hungry and they lost their chance of having the prisoner on the barby. But unknown to them, there was trouble a foot

* * *

Snipe growled in boredom. By now, he was expecting the Storm Hawks to come riding in; ready to save the day. Instead, he was watching some stupid Gaian, which he made the guards clean, heal, and sew her clothing back to normal. They even put on a special lotion that would heal instantly and not scarred. They didn't ask him why though, which was good for him.

The giant looked back at their prisoner with curiosity. After what the Dark Ace had said, she had been taking it well. She hadn't punched the guards yet while they were fixing her; that was good. But it still seemed pathetic; her being Gaian and all. Not only that, but listening to the newly appointed grunts was driving him nuts.

"Dude! The Raptors totally shred her!"

"I know, Dude!"

"Man, why are we working with those reptiles anyway?"

"It's because Cyclonis didn't want to pay union wages for failing."

"I thought we didn't have a union, dude."

"Yea, we do. It's a secret because Snipe doesn't want the rookies to apply to it before they're real Talons."

"Wow, he really is stingy!"

"I know, dude!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

"SHUT UP!!" yelled their commander, as the two quickly shut up. He stood up and stared at them, commanding, "Leave if you are going to blab on like that!" The grunts quickly left, wishing not to be smashed; they had a date later. Afterwards, he turned back to the child and stared at her, realizing that she still hadn't said anything. This was starting to irritate him.

A few minutes of her not doing anything was making him more bored than usually, and he was staring at the table. Swiftly, the giant heard some mumbling and turned to the girl. Was she talking to herself…? While being in the same room as another living person?! That was it; he had enough of her attitude, and he was about to do something about it.

Snipe stood up and walked over to the Gaian. He stood over her like a wolf over a small, unsuspecting rabbit. She noticed and looked up, blinking in confusion. Then, she muttered a small, "… What?"

"Talk…" he said, making it sound like a command. They stared at each other, squarely in the eye. It was strange how two that should be considered enemies for their different ideals were giving each other partly friendly stares. Afterwards, she opened her mouth and made the phonetic sounds of,

"Leave me alone, idiot, I'm having a bad day."

The man, feeling that he had been insulted, raised his hand in order to strike the girl, but suddenly, another Talon came into the room and said, with some British accent, "I'm here for the Gaian. I'm from the transport." When the said-Gaian looked at her, she looked confused. The grunt was female, with the mask on her bottom part of her face and wore the typical red goggles and uniform. But instead of wearing a helmet, she let a pony-tail come out from her top layer of her purple hair. She stood there, waiting like an obedient servant.

The teen blinked, as she was hoisted up by the giant, as he said, "Here's your package, peon!" He then threw the child, as the grunt caught her. The girl was limped from the throw and felt she didn't have the strength to stand up. But before they left, they heard Snipe coughed and said, "And make sure to tell the captain, Snipe says to keep his end of the bargain."

Both females blinked at that request, for it sounding strange. But the soldier nodded and bowed, before turning to the outside, carrying the Gaian for her to walk. The man grumbled before patting his gloved hand, thinking about some bad memories.

'Cyclonis is going to have a fit about this,' he thought, before huffing. He just sat down and went back to being bored.

* * *

Meanwhile, deep in the jungles, the Raptors were hunting for food since they had given their only chance to have a human for dinner. But Repton forfeited it when he decided to let the Cyclonians handled it. His real reason for it was he figured out what the child was really. He didn't want to go through a Raptor taboo on Gaians. It was stupid, but the taboo was taboo for a reason.

"Hey! I got a toady!" yelled Leugy, as he held up a creature definitely not Earthly. Spitz and Hoerk glared at him, as the fatter one shrunk from fear. They were angry that their older brother for sacrificing their lunch to people that hated but had to work for. They still wanted human flesh for dinner; not some mini-tadpole. The fat lizard, however, didn't care so much.

"Thith ith thupid! Why didn't we eat the thupid girl?!" yelled the skinny lizard. He was angry that he didn't have any human flesh, especially the prisoner's. After being called a girl by her, his brothers decided to make fun of his interesting body figure. Now, he wanted to put her in a shredder and burn her remains as her smoldering ashes blow into the wind. The only problem was finding a shredder big enough.

"Becausssse Sssspitz," Repton's voice said, as he stared at his younger siblings, "Sssshe'ssss a Gaian…" All three brothers blinked in confusion. They were still confused.

"So?" asked Hoerk, raising an eyebrow. The eldest slapped his face; this was going to be tough than he thought.

"Sssso… SSSSSSSSSSO?!" yelled the lead Raptor in angry, "Gaianssss are poissssen! Every Raptor knowssss that! Godssssss, you guyssss are idio-!!" Suddenly, something else caught his attention. It was a scent, a familiar, strange scent. It smelled like… Death.

The lizard hopped down and started to sniff the air. Soon, he started to track down where it was coming from. The other three blinked and started to follow him. Through the brush and vines, the Raptors pursue the scent until they came across some tracks, heading towards the camp.

"They kinda look like our tracks." said Leugy as he stared at them. Yes, the tracks were three-toed, but the scent wasn't Raptor. It smelled like something from Terra Deep, with its stingy smell. But other than the Raptors, who else had three-toed feet?

Unfortunately, they didn't notice Repton at all. The lizard's blood started to boil as he assumed what he was following. They were here; the blasted pirates that attacked Bogaton when he was young. Whatever they were here for, it didn't matter, for those bastards were about to pay.

As his pupils went into slits, the elder lizard roared and then went off at furious speed. When the three noticed that their brother ran off, the faster two started to run after him. Not being blessed with his brother's speed, regrettably, Leugy just jogged at a medium pace.

"G-guys, wait up!" he complained, not sure why his older brother was acting like this. Maybe he wanted to eat the girl now?

* * *

Back at the camp, a few of the newbie were collecting their bets and losing some. There was a hidden gambling ring that they made for the Raptor's mission. Those who betted on that the Gaian would get here were very happy, while those who gave her a time limit glared angrily at the winners.

"Jerks…" they muttered, as the others showed off their winnings. Yes, they were pretty mad that they lost their money. But madder at the girl for making them lose their money. They were hoping that she'll rot away in prison. The grunts just sat there until they heard someone.

"Excuse me," said a strange voice, as the Talons all turned to see one of their own behind him. He looked normal enough, but there was something about him that didn't feel right. He was also wearing a pinkish, glowing crystal shard around his neck, but they didn't notice that.

"… Do you have a cold? Sounds like you have one." one of them asked, raising an eyebrow. The soldier stood there, before coughing. The others stood there in confusion. Who was this guy?

"Yes, yes, I do." he replied back, coughing rather falsely. The peons blinked, before the arrival began to speak again, "I'm here to pick up the Gaian. Do any of you know where she is?" Quickly, all the others pointed to a path, like they all knew where she was.

"She's that way, in Snipe's tent." answered another one, as the Talon who came in nodded. Then, he walked off, leaving the others in complete confusion.

"Who was that guy?" asked one of the Talons. He was asking what everyone was thinking.

"I don't know, a new recruit?" answered another one. Unfortunately, he was way off on his suggestion.

* * *

Emma looked down at the ground, as she was being escorted by a Talon grunt. She was still depressed for being so stupid. She should have known that this was a trap. But why would the Cyclonians do a thing like this? They did tell her that she was a bad influence and worthless. So why trap her instead of killing her on the spot? Was there something else going on?

The Gaian also noticed how much the Talons were ignoring her now. They were just doing Talon stuff and only glanced at them when seeing something else in their direction. Maybe because that she was with a Talon, walking through the camp was like being invisible. But she knew she wasn't going to get rescue; she felt she deserved being locked up for life.

Suddenly, another Talon wearing a strange necklace came up to them, smirking very strangely. "Excuse me, but you seem to have your hands full," he said, while examining them, "I'll take that if you don't mind." The girl blinked and looked back at the female soldier. She stared at the man with flare in her goggles. This didn't look like normal Cyclonian behavior. In fact, she didn't feel like them at all.

"Sorry, but I can't do that." the woman said, firmly. The teen heard with wide eyes. She was starting to think that the escort wasn't possibly a Talon foot soldier after all. The way she was acting; most of the Cyclonians wouldn't care if they gave over something worthless to someone else, but this one seemed a little serious about her job.

"You don't seem to understand," the other Talon said, as he smiling bigger than he used, "It wasn't a pity request." Suddenly, like a flash, Emma watched as her escort waited a few moments before punching the man in the face. He started to fall but not before the other "Talon" grabbed the crystal from his falling figure. The Gaian just stared in awed.

"Come on, Gaian. Let's go!" the woman said, as she ran. The teen started to run too, but completely forgot about it when she looked at the man. He started to shrink down to the size of a dwarf. Not only that, his skin color started to change to green, his uniform went into thieves' clothing, and he lost a couple of fingers and toes. Soon, it started to change into something into the girl thought she would never seen. The Talon was actually a Murk Raider like the ones she saw in Kraken's Pass.

The creature was still dizzy from the punch, so he didn't noticed the brunette standing near him. But she stood there, frozen like a statue. She thought she would never see these sky pirates again, but there was one lying next to her. Karma must have had it out for her.

Suddenly, she felt a tug and turned to the female Talon, as she commanded, "Come on! We need to go, now!" Then, Emma was dragged by the escort out of the camp, wondering what she had done to deserve this. Once the pirate came to, he started to look around for what he came for. Unfortunately, the last thing he saw was a raging lizard coming towards him with a foaming mouth.

"DIE MURDERER!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

By now, all the Talons turned to see Repton beating on a poor, defenseless pirate. Well, he wasn't exactly a nice one, but still, the Raptor was going a little bit overboard with mauling it. The soldiers wanted to turn away, but it was too hypnotizing to watch; like people watching a horror movie on Saturday Night.

Spitz and Hoerk made it, with Leugy lagging behind. They all watched their elder brother over-killing a marauder, with horrified faces. They had never seen their brother act like this. For them, this was like a side they hoped to expect from their sibling when they blunder up something. But to see this rage against a Murk Raider, this was like… Wow.

"… Why is Repton fighting a Murk Raider?" asked Leugy, confused by all this. There was no way Repton would go this ballistic on some random pirate. Did he tease him or something? He then heard the muscular brother sighed as he turned to face them.

"Remember when mother died?" he asked, as the other two nodded. He sighed again, as he said, "Well, she didn't die from a human. Repton told ya that so you wouldn't do anything stupid. She was actually killed by-"

"What the HECK is going on here?!" yelled a voice, as everyone, except Repton and the intruder, to Snipe, who was outside because of the commotion. He didn't exactly heard any yelling, but the sounds the lead Raptor was making a ruckus with his little blood fest. It wasn't before long he noticed what looked like to be a very infamous breed of sky pirate.

The giant turned pale as he asked, "Where's the girl?!" All the Talons turned to him with a raised eyebrow. Why was their leader so interested in the prisoner after he gave her to the escort? Suddenly, they came to the conclusion that Repton's chew toy was impersonating the escort and something must have cause the lizard to attack him. This was bad for security reasons only.

"Sorry, sir, but she must have escaped," answered one, as he went back to staring at the scuffle. The commander stood there in complete rage; how dare that brat escaped again?! She may be valuable, but there was a limit, dang it.

"Then, what are you standing around here for?!" he yelled, getting all the soldiers' attention, "Stop staring and go find her!" The grunts all saluted hesitantly and started to run for their rides. Snipe smirked, before noticing that the Raptors still watching their brother going ballistic. He growled as he said, "And why aren't you helping?"

"We're waiting for botth to calm down." said Spitz as the three continued to stare at their berserk sibling. The man blinked, confused by how to take this. It was getting to be a very strange day, so he just sighed.

"Oh… Carry on then," he said, as he started to walk away. The giant grumbled as he marched through the camp. The day was going so perfect as well before Repton went into a frenzy form. Now, he just needed to figure out how to explain this to the Dark Ace and his sister.

* * *

The two ran through the jungle, after escaping from the Talon camp. Emma blinked as she was being continued to drag by the female Cyclonian. She was very confused by why the soldier helping her. Didn't all the Cyclonians hate her, especially for being with the Storm Hawks? And why did this woman punched her comrade, even when he was a Murk Raider? Something was wrong, very wrong.

The Gaian then felt that herself stopped as the Talon stopped running as well. Then, she let go and turned to the teen with an eyeless stare through her goggles. The brunette gulped, feeling that she was as good as dead. There could be a million possibilities of who this person was and one of them was right. But there was a high possibility that one of those will have her kill.

"… Now, that was sort of random, wasn't it?" the "Talon" said, before taking off her goggles and clothing. Underneath her disguise were patchy brown shirt, blue shorts, and knee-past length boots. There were also the scattered plates of armor on it as well. Her eyes were bright green like Aerrow's, reminding the girl of the sky knight. It seemed strange for a Talon to take off her uniform like that, unless she wasn't a Talon at all.

"… Okay, who are you and why do you want to kill me?" Emma asked, sounding panicking. The woman stared at her before giggling. Oh great, humiliation before death, something like that was something the teen didn't want in her life.

"I'm not going to kill you," the person said, before getting serious, "My name is Starling, sky knight of the Interceptors. I am here to get you away from Cyclonia, Gaian." The Gaian then turned a light shade of white. Another sky knight and this one knew what her heritage of birthplace as well. She was now going back to her own terra to be put to death by burning at the stake like the Salem Witch Trials. Before she could speak up again, there was sound of motors in the distance.

"Come on! Snipe must have figured out that I wasn't the courier." the sky knight said, before running off in one direction. The teen ran off in another direction, hearing, "No! Not that way!" But she didn't care; she knew she was going to die either way. She made it out of the jungle, although she stopped a few feet away from a cliff.

The girl breathed heavily, before hearing the motorcycles coming closer. She turned to see a bunch of Talons behind her, smirking evilly at her demise. It seemed that her chances for survival were slim; so the question was, did she want to die from a cliff fall or in the hands of people she didn't like? It seemed like a hard choice.

Before the soldiers could get off their switchblades, there was another sound of a motor as a blur past the Talons. It was Starling, on her own skimmer, as she quickly grabbed the brunette and set her on the back of her bike. Then, she headed off the terra and started to fall down into the wastelands. After a few seconds of falling, she activated her wings and started to fly away, with the Talons' prisoner in hand.

"Wow, that fun, wasn't it?" The sky knight said, trying to make a conversation. But after a few moments of silence, she started to worry and turned to the girl, with a disappointing look on her face. The person she saved from an evil army had just fainted while holding on to the woman's waist. "Strange Gaian…" she muttered, before flying off.

All the Talons stared with blank looks on their faces. It happened so fast that they didn't know what to say in this situation. It was only a few minutes later that someone asked, "… So, how much trouble do you think we were in for letting one girl get away?"

"Well," another started, "She was a Gaian, but as the Dark Ace said, she was worthless and a pain in the neck. So, she was only counted as back-up in case the other one died during the process. But since that is not likely to happen, our hides are safe" Soon, all the other laughed as they realized that there was no way Cyclonis would kill them now. But their laughter was silenced as another Talon realized something.

"… But wasn't that Starling?" another one said, as the rest paled. They were screw.

* * *

"Starling _has_ the girl now?!" question Ravess as she heard her brother told them the whole story. Just their luck, another sky knight knew about the Gaian. This was looking really bad for Cyclonia for their invasion against Earth/Gaia. The Dark Ace listened, smirking in his amusement.

"Sorry, sis. The stupid Gaian must have escape with her when Repton went berserk on that disguised Murk Raider. Not sure how he got there either." Snipe replied back, sounding a little tense. The woman sighed; her brother wasn't the sharpest tool. She still wondered why Cyclonis kept him.

"Well, Snipe, just be glad we left earlier or else I would do to you what Repton did to that pirate!" she yelled back, before slamming the transmitter onto the radio. Leave it to an idiot to mess up something without doing anything. She pouted before turning to the Dack Ace, asking, "What are you smirking about?"

"It seems like Starling knows what the girl is. So, do the Murk Raiders as it seems." The Dark Ace stated, before continuing, "She's been with the Storm Hawks, so they'll know about her bloodline as well. And Repton figured out she was a Gaian, damn him."

"… So?" asked Ravess with a raised eyebrow. The woman didn't understand this at all. Sure, she was a little smarter than her big ape of a sibling, but this was strange. Was the Dark Ace happy that the child escaped… again?

"It won't be long before all of Atmos knows that there is a Gaia here, which means they would know about our little operation…" the Dark Ace explained. Suddenly, it all clicked into the other commander's brain.

"Which means it stands to reason to kill her before anyone else figures out," the woman said, before smirking. The only reason they kept her alive was as back-up in case her older sister croaked. But now that there were others that knew about the Gaian, it would make sense to kill her than keep her alive. Ravess laughed when she imagine the girl running away from being target practice.

The man smirked from the situation now. In truth, he didn't have much respect for the child, for some reason, she reminded him of the Storm Hawks. But he controlled his thirst to take all his anger against the sky squadron out on one pest. Now, there was no reason to keep the worthless Gaian alive and his rage against the teen squadron should overkill the child.

All the Talons quivered when they heard the two commanders laugh throughout the ship. It seems like Karma is starting to appreciate them now.

* * *

Author's Notes:

I'm here with an update, peeps! Sorry for the wait, I blame my old computer kicking the bucket, school, and writer's block! Anyway, here's some plot development!

For starters, I told ya the Murk Raiders would be back… just not in a whole group, as you can see. If you are wondering how they got a hold onto some cloaking crystal, it was probably from one of their raids.

I would also take this moment to remind you that this is kinda AUios, which means that anything in this probably doesn't. So, I'm not sure if Repton would really maul a Murk Raider at first sight.

Also, I would like to thank Kitten2007 and Yani for reviewing again. I would also thank AnaiayaHiwatari, Tatertwig45, Cold-Hearted-Angel23, SmashQueen, and anyone else for faving this story. I'm sorry for not including you in my thank yous. But for anyone reading this, I thank you for the support of this story. It is strange how the reviews and faving didn't start until Chapter 3, but I don't care.

And for a little fun fact, there is more than one variation to _**Between Earth and Air**_. The reason for this is that I felt that the title was really good. I went through many ideas until using this one. And again, I thank the people of this fanfiction website for your support.

What waits next time? I don't know, my lips are sealed.

Please Read and Review!


	10. Chapter 10: Slum Markets

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 10: Slum Markets_

'Boy, what a dream…' Emma thought, still drowsy, 'Flying motorcycles, talking lizards, a kid team, and an evil empress who should still be in puberty, what a nice dream… Too bad it wasn't real.' However, once she retained her full consciousness, she realized that she didn't really dream but was actually experiencing it. She flying on a motorcycle at probably a billion feet in the sky and her acrophobia kicked into affect. She quickly grabbed onto the waist of the person driving the vehicle while looking up at the sky.

"Seems you're up," said a voice, as the Gaian turned to see the person driving the motorcycle. The strange, purple-haired woman from some time ago that rescued her from the Talons. She didn't know why this person did it; she just knew she did it partly because she said she was a sky knight, and everyone knows Cyclonians and sky knights don't get along. "You must have passed out when I grabbed you. You've been out for three days. Whenever I stopped for a rest, you still seemed to keep your arms around my waist."

'Three days?!' thought the girl as she closed her eyes. She was out for three days; the longest she has ever slept. Now, she had no idea where she was, what time it is, and who she was with. She felt like an idiot before noticing something off in the distance.

It was another person, flying on probably a mass-produced skimmer and screaming. He seemed to be running away from a huge bird, like the size of mini-airplane and it was also on fire. As it flew, it shot fire from its beak at the escaping skimmer. The teen raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What's up with him?" she asked, curious to what the man did. Did he upset the firebird or was it something else? The sky knight blinked, turning to the person as well.

After a few moments of examining, Starling answered, "He probably took a Phoenix Crystal from that phoenix." Emma gasped as she realized she was staring at an actually phoenix. It didn't look like the ones she saw on the internet, but it was still beautiful in its own flaming way. Then when hearing Phoenix Crystal, she thought back to an item used in a famous popular video game.

"You mean like the summon materia?" the teen asked, as the woman blinked. To any video-gamer back on Earth, materia was an item used in Final Fantasy VII that allows the playable characters wearing it to perform skills and magic. Unfortunately, to someone in Atmos, it would sound strange to them. Starling just shrugged and went along with what the younger girl.

"It's a very powerful crystal, but if you steal it, you'll get hunted by the bird for the rest of your life," the sky knight said, before the girl shivered. She didn't want to be follow by a bird forever. But then, she heard the woman said, "We also need to stop for a moment, my skimmer is running low on fuel crystals."

The Gaian blinked, before looking around the area, except down. It looked smoggy and gray, probably a bad sign. Wherever they were going, it was possibly someplace where even her parents wouldn't want her to go.

* * *

The Slum Markets; the most notorious black market in Atmos. Filled with thieves, beggars, and conmen, the marketplace was crawling with outcasts and sellers telling their lies from one buyer to another. Even if it was the black market, most sky knights don't enforce because it was lawless land. Not even the Talons try to take over this place because of the illegal weapons and unstable crystals that were in the hands of crooks. And instead of one, big terra, it was multiple land masses hooked together by rope bridges. If ant sky knights or Cyclonians passed through here to invade or stop crime, then they were in big trouble.

Of course, if someone was like Starling, then they wouldn't try to do that and blend in with the crowd. She and Emma walked through the streets, just keeping a mind on their own business. For the sky knight, most of the people there didn't recognize her as she looked for a store that sold crystals. But for someone who wasn't of this world, everything was so curious to her. From the blasters to the exotic pets, it was something out of a sci-fi film. The Gaian was staring at a small purple creature with wings for arms, big, black bug-eyes (Not literally, think of pikachu's eyes), three spikes lining the top of its head and a forked tail until she heard the woman cough.

"I rather not buy that if that is what you are thinking of doing. That is a gremlin." she said, in a moderate tone. The teen raised an eyebrow when she looked back at her. The gremlins she knew of were the ones in Bugs Bunny cartoons and the movie, _Gremlins_, where some people thought the furbies got their origins. The creature she saw didn't look like them, but it looked cute. Maybe it was the sense of how it looked like something in an anime. The mini-bat squeaked, making the girl go into senseless bliss.

"Cute…" she said, as Starling rolled her eyes. The brunette didn't get it, did she?

"You probably not know what it is," the sky knight stated, before explaining, "Gremlins are annoying things. They collect anything that is shiny and metal. They're mostly use in thieving when it comes to gold. It's also dangerous for them to be in a group because they can tear an airship apart." The younger girl seemed to ignore it, as she reached her hand out to pet it. But it decided to be mischievous and went to nip at her hand. She retracted before it could, and looked with a shocked face; this proved the old saying that you should never judge a book by its cover.

The woman stared at her, trying not to say anything. In her own mind, she felt that Emma kinda deserved in learning that gremlins weren't as friendly as they look. The teen stood up and looked at her with a blush over her face; she was embarrassed for doing something, but her curiosity got in the way. Then, she muttered, "That was close."

"You know, if you really want something," Starling stated, before saying, "I got find you some new clothes." That's when the girl quickly grabbed herself. Even if they were partially ripped and stitched up, she liked her clothes; it was the only thing reminding her of her home. She left all her other stuff on the Condor and it must have been sold by their owners by now. She quickly shook her head, showing that she didn't want to. The sky knight sighed; this was a very strange girl.

"Fine then, the crystal shop is nearby here. You stayed out here if you don't want to come in," she said, before seeing her nod. The Gaian didn't want to go with the woman, even if she was a sky knight. The last time she trusted someone she didn't know, she ended up almost eaten. This person couldn't be as she said and might be taking her to a slave auction. She decided to play it safe and not go with her. That, and she had a feeling crystals hate her.

The older female shrugged and said, "Alright then." Then, she walked off. The teen just stood there, not trying to make a scene. She was in a place with a lot of muggers, and if she did something out of the ordinary of an everyday in this place, they might be suspicious. So, she stood there like a statue until she heard someone call out to her, or at least she thought at the moment.

"Ohaiyo!" the Gaian heard, before turning around. Then, her face went an unhappy one, when she saw that the same guy from Terra Nord standing a few feet behind her, waving. She glared, still remembering how he bothered her until that avalanche came down on her. She turned back the other way, only to see the man in front of her now.

"Is there something you want…?" she asked, before saying, "If so, why are you even talking to me?" The teen trying not to care that some crazy guy was talking to her. Even if it was out of the blue, she should at least talk to him. She was strange like that.

"Oh, I just wanted to talk to you because you seem lonely, being a Gaian and all." he answered, with his comedic tone. The girl paled, realizing that this man also knew that she was not from here. She looked around to see if anyone noticed. So far, no one seemed to have overheard their conversation. She sighed in relief; that was close.

"How did you know that I'm a "you-know-what"?" she questioned, in a whisper. If he knew that she wasn't from Atmos, she might have identified how. It might help her to get along with this world.

"Simple, you still haven't changed your clothes last time we met. It still doesn't suit you." he responded quickly, as the teen puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. She liked her clothes, even if she wasn't gifted with the female sense of fashion. She just stood there in annoyance, before hearing him ask, "So, how is Atmos?"

"It's… Well, nice. It has better air quality than my world, that's for sure. I've seen some pretty interesting creatures as well… It's the long drop that I don't like." Emma stated, looking down at the ground. Yes, this world would be perfect if it didn't have the high land masses, separated by a huge gap of molten lava that was a thousand feet below actual land. The only reason she hadn't went berserk with fear was because she pretended that she was still on some stable land. That and she looked up from time to time.

"Oh, you're one of those people who dream of flying but don't have the courage to get off the ground." the man replied, making the girl felt more irritate. She would like to fly, but didn't for a good reason; she just didn't want to tell that reason. She stood in silence before seeing the man say, "And I wouldn't stand there if I were you."

"Let me guess, another avalanche?" The Gaian said, sarcastically. She knew there wasn't snow. So, what else is there?

"Nope, but in fifteen seconds, someone is going to sell some weaponry that everyone would want to get." he said, before saying, "Well, see ya!" And then, the man walked off. The brunette stood there in utter stupidity. She still didn't get what he said, and even if she did move, it would make Starling think she ran away. So, she just stood there, until she heard some rumbling.

The ground started to shake, feeling that it was an earthquake. The teen looked up to see the source of the sound, seeing that the man wasn't pulling her leg. Soon, she was caught in a mob of shoppers as they rushed to the store. She was stuck as the bargain hunters rushed in mad passion. Now, this was just great; not only was she stuck, but she was going to be lost. Maybe she should have gone with her rescuer.

Speaking of her rescuer, she was coming back with the fuel crystals. It had only been several minutes since she left and she hoped that the child didn't wonder off in a dangerous place such as this. Unfortunately, her hopes plummet down when she saw no child there or anywhere near where she left her. The sky knight sighed; was the Gaian stupid or just plain hard-headed?

"Idiot, wondering off at a time like this," Starling said, as she started to walk through the marketplace again. It was supposed to be a simple task, but now it was turning into a chore. Of course, it wouldn't be so hard.

How difficult was it to find one person from another world in a place like this?

* * *

In the most, large places, there was one area that most people avoid. The Slum Markets were not one exception, as a corner of its east district laid in poverty. The decaying buildings on both sides of the street looked scary up close, and the fog gave it an eerie feeling. There were no stores, except for a little pub that had only one group of customer. Whoever walked this section had a pretty big reputation of being a notorious criminal with no sense of a clean environment.

And it was definitely not a position for someone like Emma to be in. The girl had left the mob and was wondering the place, looking for Starling or at least where she was last. But with her sense of direction in this world, she ended up more lost than before. Not only that, she was hungry. Three days of sleeping and not eating were making her look almost like a skeleton. "Where's a McDonalds when you need one?" she rhetorically ask, looking up at the sky.

The Gaian waited quietly for an answer or so, until she heard something. It sounded like a music box, with a beautiful melody. The harmony had hypnotized her into a curious bliss as she started to approach the alley to where it was coming from. The closer she got, the louder it sounded until she found the source. It was a music box, with two old-fashioned dancers on top.

The teen sat down and continued to stare at it. As the dancers spin, she started to tap her fingers to the music. For some reason, it reminded her of Earth… of Gaia. Then, she started to think of all the things she left behind: her few friends, her family, and all the things back home. At that moment, she thought if she could ever get back.

Once the music stopped, Emma snapped back into reality, only to her some sinister snicker. She looked up to see some shadows moved. She slowly stood up, not wanting to cause any sudden movements. Then once the sun was in a position, its light showed one thing that the brunette didn't want to see.

Murk Raiders.

Yes, the pesky buggers from Kraken Pass and the Talon camp had already caught up to her. There were only three of them and they were the smaller fry. The girl could have taken them on, but due to hungry and them having weapons, she felt there was only one option: Run.

She was about to sprint away, until she ran into something and fell onto the ground. That was also another thing that seemed to happen to her a lot more since she came to this world as well. The new changing variable was now the fat pirate; she forgot what his name was. He and a few other zombie pirates had surrounded the teen, showing that there was no way escape.

"Well, well, looks like we got a lost pet." he mocked, as he and the rest started to advance. As it seem that there was no way out, the Gaian closed her eyes, thinking that this was it.

* * *

Captain Scabulous was at the Dead Man's Pub, drinking his woes away. It had been a week since he last raided at Kraken's Pass and discovered the one that got away. Ever since then, he had been in the dumps. Even the recent raids had lost their thrill with just the normal loot. What he would give to have that rare treasure?

"Oooh, captain!" called his first mate, as the pirate turned to see his first mate and crew, smiling like a couple of clowns. It was a strange sight, really; as he was depressed at the moment. Whatever they were smiling he was going to find out.

"What is it, Eyeball?" he asked, eyeing at the bottom of his mug, "Can't ya see I'm busy drinking?" As much as he would like to see some gold, the captain was too busy being dispirited. Unfortunately, that didn't get them to leave. Oh well, he might as well see what they brought.

"Well, we noticed that you were a little sad lately, captain… So, we got you a gift." the first mate answered, with pure enjoyment. Oh great, another piece of rubbish, that's what the Murk Raider needed. Fortunately, it wasn't junk as two pirates brought forward a human girl. Scabulous blinked, trying to get his eyes, or whether eye, in focus. That girl seemed familiar, too familiar. It was after his intoxicating haze past that he recognized who it was. He smiled to the fact that fate has given him another chance.

"Well, well, it seems you got me a Gaian for a gift. Look, you even tied her in a bow." he said, as Emma struggled with the ropes. She didn't know how she got into this mess, maybe it was not going with the sky knight. Now, she was who-knows-what to these bilge rats. She felt that this was the end, until the Murk Raider's leader cut her ropes with his metal arm.

"Sorry for not introducing ourselves last time we met," the zombie pirate said, before bowing, "I am Captain Scabulous, leader of the Murk Raiders. The man that captured you was my first mate, Eyeball, and this is the rest of my crew." The girl blinked, before staring at the rest. She felt a little bit uneasy, since these were criminals and all. Then, she felt an arm wrapped her from behind as the captain exclaimed, "Come! We must celebrate! This is a special occasion!"

As the Murk Raiders cheered, the teen started to experience a stomach ache. Fortunately, none of the pirates noticed. Their captain was happy again, and it was going to stay that way.

* * *

In her quest to find the Gaian, Starling was now in the place that the Murk Raiders claimed as their own property. She had to ask if the people of the Slum Markets have seen a strange girl wearing bizarre, tattered clothing. She only got the answer that the strange girl was just wondering around the marketplace, but she was being followed by the infamous sky pirates in the shadows. The sky knight sighed; if pirates were following her companion, then they must have known what she really was too.

The woman stared at Dead Man's Pub, wondering how some outlandish teen get herself into this mess. Sure, it was easier when only the Cyclonians and Raptors were involved, but now the Murk Raiders were getting into the mix as well. She knew that their captain would follow to the ends of Atmos to get his hand on valuable treasure, which brought her to the next problem. How to rescue the Gaian out of there without being killed in the process?

The sky knight could have charged in, with guns blazing. But the downside was that she would be outnumbered, even with the child with her. The other option was sneaking in, taking the prisoner out of the pirates' sight, and escaping the terra before they figured out. It was a fairly good plan; the only problem was coming up with a disguise to sneak in.

She could dress as one of them, but the downside was that Starling wasn't exactly like them. Murk Raiders were all part of the same race, whatever that was. If she went in as a human in pirate clothing, they might have suspect her to be from another crew. And she didn't have any cloaking crystals with her. What else could she do to get into the pub without blowing her cover?

Suddenly, she noticed a sign that says, "Waitress Wanted". The woman smiled; what a clever disguise.

* * *

Emma quivered as she sat down. She didn't want to be here. As much she would like to be drinking with the pirates, they were acting like complete idiots. Dancing, drinking, and babbling like it was some big party. But she wasn't that special, why celebrate over her anyway?

"OooOooh, Gaian," said their leader, as he laid an arm on the girl's shoulder. He looked at her with a drunken look on his face. She didn't know how to react to this because the only alcohol usage that was even close to this she saw was on comedy shows and movies that had to deal with college frat houses. This wasn't a frat house.

"How is King Georgie doing these days?" he asked, before hiccupping. The teen blinked before thinking. Who was "King Georgie"? She knew there was no "King Georgie" on Atmos, or at least that's what she thought. What was this guy talking about anyway? She was about to answer until she felt something spill onto her pants.

"Oops, sorry 'bout that." said a familiar voice, as the Gaian freaked out. She slowly turned her head to see Starling, staring down at her. She was wearing a waitress' uniform and carrying a tray full of ale. The brunette gulped, now knowing that she was in trouble.

The sky knight picked her up, saying, "Let me get that out for you." Then, she started to dragged Emma over to the bathroom. Once they made it, the woman closed the door and turned to the younger girl, who was shivering in fear. She sighed, before saying, "You're very hard to find, you know that?"

"I'm sorry! I stood there like you said until a stampede came and dragged me away!" the teen answered, feeling a little bit stress. She didn't know whether Starling would believe her or not, but by the look on her face, she probably didn't. So, the younger girl decided to change the subject by asking, "So, what are you doing as a waitress?"

"Simple, saving your life." the sky knight answered, strictly, making the Gaian turned pale. She wasn't like Aerrow; his personality as a soldier for the greater good could beat hers any day. But there was no use in complaining, the girl was stuck with the woman for now and that was that.

"Now, go out this window." Starling commanded, while pointing at a big window in the bathroom. Emma looked at it. It seemed simple enough; she walked over to the window and was about to get out. That was, before she looked down. It was a pretty big drop, definitely not simple. She freaked before getting back inside. Then, she looked at the purple-haired woman, shaking her head, causing the other female to ask, "Why not? It's perfectly safe."

"… I'm not going to fall into a dumpster with stinking garbage." the brunette lied, not wanting to tell her the real truth. She had acrophobia and didn't want to experience a bad memory she had in early childhood. Of course, she didn't want anyone to find out. Heck, even the Storm Hawks didn't know about it. The sky knight sighed; what a strange Gaian.

"Well, you have no choice," she started, "It's either the jump or…" Then, the two went silent as they listened to the music the Murk Raiders were playing for their festivity. The girl stood there for a moment before kneeling to the floor. It looked like she was trapped.

"Why me? Why did those Murk Raiders want me?" she asked, clutching her head. It was more of a universal question than to one specific group. Was it because she betrayed the Storm Hawks, or was it that she left her older sister behind? Then, she heard a sighed coming from Starling. She must have been irritated with her by now.

"It's because you're a Gaian." she answered, not getting a respond from her companion. She decided to give her a little more detail. "How many Gaians do you know?"

That got Emma's attention. As the Dark Ace said, many people from Earth came here, only to be killed. The only Earthlings that were alive were herself and Katie. She looked up at Starling, answering, "What does that have to do with it?"

"The Gaia/Atmos War was a long time ago. And there have been no other sightings of Gaians crossing over here ever since then. Also, those who have crossed over during that time had their generations filled with inbred blood. But because most Atmosians think that Gaia is a myth, most of them think that they don't have Gaian blood in them. So they considered themselves as pure Atmosians, in other words, you and your sister are the only purebred Gaians here, thus making you one of the rarest creatures in all of Atmos."

That's when the girl really paled. She and her sister were the only ones here to be from Earth, and like the sky knight said, they were pureblood as well. probably. This was bad. Maybe if the people have never heard of Earth, then maybe she would have fit in better. But now, she was going to probably hunted by people she didn't want to hear about.

The brunette was about to say something, until she heard, "Oi! Are you done yet, Gaian?" It was Captain Scabulous, or for a funny name, Captain Scabs. She turned to the sky knight, who just gave her a stern look. She had no choice; she must go back to the Murk Raiders until they had a better plan.

Emma walked out and sat back in her seat. Maybe she would think better if she had something to eat. But when she looked down at the dish, she stuck her tongue out in disgust. It was soup that looked like toxic waste, or at least to her. She looked at the others, saw that some of them were eating it and they didn't have a problem with it. But she didn't want to eat, even if she was starving. She was that stubborn.

The girl looked back at the bathroom, to see Starling giving her a go ahead to try it. The teen rolled her eyes, knowing that she was going to hate it. But then, her mind started to work, trying to come up with a plan. She turned to the sky knight, mouthing out her plan. The woman raised an eyebrow in confusion. What was she doing?

The Gaian took the soup bowl and started to drink the whole thing. It was disgusting, but it was going to be worth it if this idea works. She turned to the nearest pirate, who was dazing while drinking rum. He didn't noticed why the human was staring at her before it was too late. She spat it at the Raider, while no one watching. The sky buccaneer blinked, before realizing what had happened. The hiding sky knight groaned at the sight; this was bound for failure.

The pirate grunt growled, before grabbing his soup. Then, he threw the food at the girl, in which she ducked quickly. Subsequently, since it didn't hit her, it hit the next best thing. Another Murk Raider blinked as he tasted sludge soup in his mouth. He glared at the first, picked up a piece of food and threw it back at his colleague. He ducked as well, which the food hit someone in the band. The music stopped and it wasn't before long that the whole party turned into a food fight.

Emma snuck under a table, waiting for Starling to realize that the sly buccaneers were distracted. It was strange how her plan worked even if this was reality. It was also funny on how all the grunts were trying not to hit their captain, who was still oblivious to what was happening around him. A pirate threw a pie over his leader, and she got hit instead. After wiping of the pie, the brunette jumped a little when Starling put a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, we got to get out of here," she said, before she and the teen started to sneak out. Out of shock, the sky knight commented, "I can't believe your plan worked."

"Yea… But I had to sacrificed taste buds to do so," the Gaian replied, still having that bad taste in her mouth. Even if it was worthwhile, she would rather have a good taste instead of bitter. The woman sighed, as they both creped out the front door. The pirates didn't notice their escape.

Scabulous, still being oblivious as he ate, got hit in the side face from a stray drumstick. He quickly looked up for his meal and turned to his crew, yelling, "What's going on here?!" All the Murk Raiders stopped in motion and turned to their leader with a terrified look on their faces. They had done a bad thing and they were going to pay with their hides.

The captain was about to do something until he noticed something. It wasn't that something was there; it was more like there was something missing. Then, he turned towards his first mate and asked, "Where is my Gaian?"

That's when all the pirates paled. They were so wrapped up in their food fight, they forgotten all about the Gaian. Now, they were going to pay dearly with a very angry leader. The captain growled, slamming an arm on the table.

"Find her! And bring her back alive!" he commanded, as all the pirates quickly left the pub. He couldn't believe it; that girl managed to escape unnoticed. Whether it was the grog or the irony of it all, he chuckled. Captain Scabulous was going to have more fun hunting down the Gaian.

* * *

"Starling, I know this would be complaining and we are in a dire situation. But please! Can you slow down?" complained Emma, as she was tired and hungry. They were running for a few minutes and she was already tired. It was a miracle that she was able to continuing moving.

The sky knight looked over at the girl and said, "No, we have a head start. If we lag, they'll catch up… And I doubt you can fight them off." She was right in some truth; the teen wouldn't win against a fight with so many pirates, especially in a weak state like hers. So, the best thing for now was running before the Murk Raiders figured out that they were gone, which they wouldn't as she thought.

She thought too soon.

The sky buccaneers already figured out that the Gaian was missing and were right behind the two. The teen yelped, starting to pick up the pace. But instead, she tripped over a foot that was walking in front of her and fell into the dirt. The woman noticed, rolled her eyes, and started to run back for her. She grabbed Emma before a pirate caught her and put her on her back. Then, she started to run for their ticket out of here.

As they run, the situation seemed dire. When they turned a corner, another batch of pirates was there to chase after them. It was like they knew where the duo would be before they even got there. Soon, the two were taking a really long way to Starling's ride while being followed by a large group of pirates. Both were starting to think that maybe the Slum Markets wasn't the best place to come.

As they ran, the brunette noticed the pet shop with the gremlin in it. It seemed it had taken a filer and started to file the bars in order to escape. It was a funny sight to have seen, since it reminded her of the prison break cartoons back on Earth that she watched. Suddenly, the sky knight stopped, took out her purple-crystal nun-chucks, and threw it at the animal cages of the pet stand. It cut at the locks of the cages, thus freeing the creatures and causing chaos in the streets. There were a few beasts that attacked the pirates, slowing them down and giving a good distance from their prey.

"That will help," commented Starling as she ran while carrying her partner. They made it to the skimmer outside the marketplace, making the teen jumped off and putting the fuel crystals in. The other girl just stood there, being very impatient about the refueling. With Murk Raiders behind them, it was best to get out of here before anyone else could happen.

'Hurry up, please…' she thought, while hopping up and down. Soon, she heard sounds of an angry mob, as Emma turned to see a lot of Murk Raiders, with Scabulous in the front. He looked pretty mad, probably angry that she left without saying goodbye. Feeling like this was she end, she felt being grabbed again and dragged onto the slipwing. The sky knight looked at her with a stern face.

"Time for us to leave!" she said, and just before the captain could let his sword touch them, the woman put the pedal to the metal and sped off. The pirates watched as they went, switching to flight mode as the two went off the terra. Once looking down, the Gaian felt like fainting again, until the sky knight said, "Don't faint!" That quickly cleared her mind, as she started to look up.

The Murk Raiders stood there dumbfounded. They had their hands on something valuable until it escaped from them… Again. Now, they definitely knew that their boss was angry. At least until they heard some laughter from him.

"Uhhhh, what's wrong, Captain? They got away again." said one of the lower pirates, as they looked at Scabulous. Yes, he was laughing a crazy laugh. It was strange, really. Since they didn't have the Gaian back, why was he being so happy?

"No, nothing's wrong." he answered, before turning towards them with a big smile. "I knew if my prize was going to run away again, I might as well be prepared." Then, he took out a tracking device and showed them. "Now, we can easily find her again."

The crew stood there for a moment before cheering. "Now, get the Blood Crow ready, boys! We're going on a Gaian hunt!" That's when the crew cheered some more. They finally had their captain back, and he was ready to get his prize again.

Even if they had to take on the entire Cyclonian army to do so.

* * *

Author's Notes:

And the Authoress said let there be Chapter 10! And the Murk Raiders are back entirely! I hope you guys enjoy this! It took about… a week to write it.

As for clarification, I do not own materia, furbies or the actual forms of gremlins. I do own the Storm Hawks version of gremlins, though. Besides, all good creations must have some form of cute, annoying mascot. Like Square Enix with moogles, or Nippon Ichi Software with prinnies (demonic, peg-legged penguins that work for low pay and say "Dood!"). I felt to continue that tradition by making the gremlins… Oh wait, the Storm Hawks have the Stalker Chicken. Dang it!

As for the materia, I thought that the first thing ever since I've heard of the Phoenix Crystal. I was pretty disappointed when I figured out it was only used in weapons instead of summoning a real phoenix. That would be even better.

Also, I like to thank Cold-hearted-Angel23, Tuberculosis Queen, Kitten2007, and reno-jaz for reviewing this story. I would also thank reno-jaz again for faving this story as well. I'm glad to see that people like to see Starling in this story as well.

I'll get started on Chapter 11 soon.

Please Read and Review!


	11. Chapter 11: The Dream Shaman

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 11: The Dream Shaman_

Starling thought it would be an easy mission. She was about to rescue a girl and take her somewhere safe. It sounded simple enough but unfortunately, it wasn't.

The two were now on an uncharted terra with a damaged skimmer. Its body was burnt and bashed. The sky knight was fixing it up, while listening to the apologies of her companion. She rolled her eyes before going back to work. It wasn't the best possible situation to be in.

Several minutes earlier, the two were flying at dawn towards another occupied terra. It was then that the same person that was being chased by the phoenix before their little detour at the Slum Markets. He decided that he would not be chased by a scary phoenix anymore, so he gave it to someone that was near him, A.K.A. the sky knight and Gaian. He flew next to them and threw the crystal near the travel companions. The girl caught it, accidently activating it. And just as it was activated, the phoenix came and started to chase them as well, breathing fire and attacking the ride. It was only when the girl dropped the stone that the fire bird left them alone.

The duo had to settle on a terra for repairing the damage done. Oh, it could fly, but there could be a chance of a breakdown and Starling didn't want to risk it. So, they settle on a deserted terra. The woman had some tools and extra parts that she carried with her, but there wasn't a pit stop shop near this place. It wasn't going to be in tip-top shape, but it will do. The worst of it all was that the child was feeling quilt for breaking the bike. It wasn't her fault, mostly.

"I heard you the first couple of times. Would you give it a rest already?" the sky knight said, before working on her bike again. She knew that it wouldn't be too long before someone might notice. The Cyclonians and Murk Raiders already seen the Gaian; if anyone else found out, then there could be total chaos. It was her job not to let that happen.

After a few moments of silence, she was done fixing the skimmer. It wasn't the best fix-up but it would do until they got to a terra that Cyclonia wouldn't attack any time soon. The woman looked up at the sky, seeing that it was almost dark, definitely not the best time to be on an unknown terra. There were dangerous things at night, very dangerous things.

Starling looked back at the girl, who was lying on a rock. She was staring at the sky, seeing only a few stars coming out. Back on Earth, the skies were either really cloudy or really bright in her town, so it would several weeks before seeing anything except for airplanes; another reason why she liked Atmos.

Emma sighed, before looking at the female sky knight, who was staring back at her. She felt a little weird since the older woman was gazing at her. Maybe it was the fact that she was not from here and her rescuer probably still couldn't believe that she was a living "myth". Or maybe she only saw her as useless. After the events today, who wouldn't? But maybe it was the perfect time of what she was thinking on her mind.

"How did you know I had a sister and that we're Gaians?" the girl asked. Starling stood up and placed a hand on her forehead. She thought the child was oblivious and would forget about that part. Oh well, she might as well answer it.

"I was there when you first came to this world on Cyclonia. I didn't see you exactly where you came, but I knew you were Gaians by the clothes you were wearing." the sky knight answered, making the teen paled. Probably that answer wasn't the best thing to say.

"Great! Now, your government knows of me! I'm doomed!" she replied, having a Stork moment. She was now thinking that the woman was now going to bring her to the Atmosian government to have her either charged of all the crimes Earth has committed against them, or be dissected like the aliens in Area 51 if there was one. Fortunately, her companion thought she was overreacting.

"No, the Sky Council doesn't even know that I'm doing this. Even if they did, they wouldn't believe that there you even existed," Starling said calmly, making Emma settled down. That was good; the younger girl wasn't going to be dissected. The woman continued, "You'll just be taken to a safe terra to have a nice life on Atmos."

The Gaian blinked before thinking. Did she really want to settle here? She didn't know much and even if she did, she wasn't sure if she could fit in. The closest she ever got into fitting in was with the Storm Hawks, and now they thought of her as a traitor for the Talons. And she bet there wasn't a chance for redemption.

And what about her sister? The brunette mentally promised herself that she would save her older sibling from Cyclonia. And if she saved her sister, she could indirectly save their home world as well. But there was the slight snag of her going against a huge army and coming out alive. Maybe what the sky knight was thinking was right for now.

The girl yawned before turning to her traveling partner, saying, "Are you fine with me sleeping for now?" The woman blinked, thinking about her question. It was nighttime and all. And as human beings, they needed rest as well.

"Yes, it would be nice if all of us went to sleep," she answered, before going over to the skimmer. She took out what consisted of her camping gear, which was two blankets, two pillows, and two sleeping bags. She gave the younger female a set before depositing her own on the ground. The teen did the same before lying inside. She looked up at the stars, thinking.

She was thinking about all the things she experienced while in Atmos. She thought about the weeks of being a Talon cadet. She thought about the Murk Raiders before she was rescued by the Storm Hawks. She thought about the crew and their silly shenanigans. She thought about Finn, Piper, Junko, Radarr, Stork, and Aerrow and what they thought of her now. 'Would they ever forgive me?' she thought, before finally falling asleep.

Starling looked at her with a raised eyebrow. 'What a strange Gaian…'

* * *

_Emma was running, running from the darkness. The darkness to her was a big, black, tentacle beast that was coming towards her at a fast speed. She continued to run, even though it was in vain. It was only when she had fallen that that the monster grabbed her and started to pull her into the darkness._

_The girl struggled wanting to escape. She was always afraid of the dark, especially watching those scary movies. And now it was like all of it was combined into one terrifying beast. She continued to struggle before staring ahead of her._

_It was the Storm Hawks, but there was something strange about them. They were staring at her with blank faces; blank, judging faces. But she needed help, so she called, "Help me… Please."_

_There was silence at first before Junko spoke, "Sorry, but we don't help people who work for Cyclonians." The teen couldn't believe this. The wallop didn't act like this. He disappeared just when Finn was about to speak._

"_I thought you like my guitar skills." the blonde said, before fading away. "I guess I was wrong." Once he disappeared, the brunette looked in shocked. She truly loved Finn's guitar skills. If he ever played Guitar Hero, he would totally rock. She turned to Piper next._

"_I should have better protected my room when you were wondering around in it," the specialist said, as she evaporated as well. The Gaian laid there was the beast pulled her into the darkness. Was this what the Storm Hawks thought of her?_

"_I always knew you were trouble," she heard the merb say before he went away as well. They were leaving her to die. Some part of her felt that she deserved that. She turned to Aerrow with a freaked-out look on her face._

"_Please… Help me," she pleaded, trying to grab the ground. Seeing the sky knight's face really broke her spirit. Instead of the kind spirit he usually had, it was a hidden anger face._

"_Even I have my limits." he stated, before he and Radarr disappeared. Emma was freaked before looking at her legs. The fiend had already enveloped her legs and was moving up to her waist. She went back to struggling until hearing someone familiar taunting her._

"_Oh, look, the trash has lead herself into itself into another mess," the voice said, before she looked up front again. There was the Dark Ace, along with Ravess, Snipe, and Cyclonis. They all stood there, mocking the child, telling how she was worthless and how she couldn't even save herself. She couldn't take it anymore. Between the Cyclonians ridiculing her and the Storm Hawks abandoning her, she wished that everything: human, beast, organism, being, would just disappear so she could be alone._

_The girl closed her eyes once, and then reopened again only to see that the Talons and their master disappeared from view. Instead, it was a small hooded figure that was hunched forward. It stared at the Gaian before saying something that was as clear as a bell._

"_Wake up…"_

* * *

Emma woke up, dripping in cold sweat. The dream she had was definitely a nightmare. Nightmares were scary and at times made the person think it was real. Heck, even the pain she felt in her legs was probably a delusion. She started to relax again, before looking at what was staring down at her.

It was the same creature from the dream, same hood, same crouch, and same tail. The girl now noticed the lizard tail that came from under the cloak. She didn't know why it was here; maybe it wanted something in the way. But it was still freaking her out, even if she looked calmed.

"Starling…" the Gaian whimpered silently. It was always best to remained absolutely still in these type of situation. Whether it was animal or hostile being, but in this case, it was some old Raptor.

It was only a second until she heard the sky knight said, "I see it…" The sky knight had her nunchucks out and was in a crouching stance. Whatever this creature tried, she would be ready for it. The lizard stared at the child before walking off into the distance. After a good distance, it turned back to the two, motioning its scaled hand to follow it.

"… I think it wants us to follow it," Emma stated before standing up. She dusted herself off and started to walk after the reptilian creature. The woman panicked before grabbing the child. What was she thinking, going after some stranger in the middle of the night?!

"What are you doing?!" she questioned, sounding concern, "You don't know what that thing is, are you sure you can trust it?" The sky knight was right; there was no telling that the anthro was friendly or not. But the child looked at her straight in the face.

"I can trust it," the teen said, before moving her arm out of Starling's grip, "And besides, I like lizards." Then, she started to skip off. The woman stood there in deep thought. She knew the girl liked reptiles from watching her as a Talon cadet, but she seemed a little bit too trustworthy when it came to them. It was sheer luck that she was still alive.

"What a strange Gaian…" Starling said, before following after her. If the creature was evil, then the Gaian would need more than luck to get out of it.

* * *

The two continued to follow the creature across the terra. For a small being, it was really fit as it went a distance ahead, while the humans climbed up rocks and cliffs. It was when that the moon was high that they caught up to it at a small shack with smoke coming from a stack on the roof. The lizard walked in, leaving the door opened.

When the travelers went in, they gawked at what was there. It was pretty bare, except for a bed, stove, a few chair, and shelves filled with jars of strange items, two being of newt eyeballs and dog tongues. This gave the feeling that the creature had some links to the witches of Macbeth. The lizard was sitting down, mixing a few plants into a mushy mixture and then putting them into a cup. Then, it walked up to the girl and gave her the cup.

"Drink," it said, sounding like an old woman. The Gaian blinked before looking at it. It looked like brown tea, and she didn't like tea. She never tried it before, but she knew she would hate it. She turned to the sky knight, who gave her a stern look. The child had gotten into this and she could get herself out. The younger female gulped, before drinking it. It was bitter so it was probably medicine.

"Good, heal wounds, it will," the creature said again, before going back to putting some other herbs in the medicine wheel and grinding it. That's when the minutes of silence began. They watched the lizard as she milled the herbs into powder. It was actually creepy, so the teen decided to speak up.

"Ummm… Who are you?" she asked, gulping. The hooded creature turned to them, almost showing them her muzzle. Then, she stared with glowing yellow eyes. After that, she went back to the grinding, as if she didn't hear.

Emma sighed, before hearing the creature answered, "Mee, me is." That was confusing. Did the raptor answered her name or was it some mind trick.

"Me?" the teen asked before pointing back at herself. This earned a hiss from the hooded figure. It was like a warning hiss, but it made the teen feel jumpy. Starling went into a stance, making sure to be ready for anything funny.

"No, Mee, my name is. Raptor Shaman, I am." the lizard answered, as she put some more of the powder into some water in another cup. Then, she gave it to the brunette again. The human girl drank it again, knowing that even though it tasted bitter, it helped for some reason.

Then, she thought about what the raptor had said. A shaman, the teen only knew about shamans from was animes and video games. From what she gathered, shamans were a class that can talk to spirits and can heal and buff other classes up. Unlike those who can use magic from divine spirits, shamans were used in tribal communities and were considered to be one of the elders. If this creature was a shaman class, than the raptors were still in the undeveloped stage of civilization.

Starling jumped a bit when Mee said that she was a raptor. She stood up and said, "Then, you're possibly with Repton, right?" That was a bit true; most raptors were for Repton, unless they were Terradon scientists enslaved. But to see one helping them, there's got to be a catch for it.

"No," the shaman answered, before getting a few white crystals, "Once, Mee was. Now, one this terra, Mee lives."

"Why did you leave?" asked the Gaian with curiosity. From what she could tell, the leader of the Raptors wasn't the best of leaders. He seemed to be angry at all of his minions and thought that he could do everything himself. That and he let his instincts do the talking.

"When Repton's mother died, Mee left on own will. Alone here, Mee lives. Travelers by stop here, in case." the Raptor responded, before placing the crystals on the younger girl's legs. Then, the crystals started to glow brightly, giving out a soothing effect. It felt so good, that it made the child smiled like a cat on catnip.

"Why?" asked the sky knight suspiciously. She still didn't trust this lizard. It was very suspicious of the creature to live on a remote terra, especially if that creature was with Repton for a moment. Mi looked at the two, still hunched over, showing the status of her age.

She answered, "Evil, terra is. Makes evil dreams' pain real, it does." The two humans looked in surprised disbelief. But now that the shaman mentioned it, Emma did feel some pain in her legs. She lifted up her pant leg, and her jaw dropped. There were some black spots on her skin that was slowly disappearing as the crystal glowed. Once they completely disappear, she turned to Starling, who didn't believe this.

"You probably had an allergic reaction to the cotton in the sleeping bag." The sky knight explained making the teen puffed her cheeks out. The only allergy she had was sensitivity to pollen, but then she remembered this wasn't Earth and maybe the cotton here wasn't like cotton on Earth. She looked back down, before hearing the woman say, "Come on, let's go back to camp until mourning. Then, we'll get to a nice, safe terra."

"Safe terra, there isn't." Mee said, just as the brunette was about to get out of her chair. The lizard turned to them, as she set her materials on the table. "Her own kind, she dislikes. Here and Earth." The Gaian's eyes widened. How did the raptor know how she felt when she was back home? If what she said was true, then she really was a shaman. "Wanted only to be with knights of storms, she felt."

Starling blinked, before asking, "You mean the Storm Hawks?" The girl paled now. She thought the female sky knight knew that she was with the teenage squadron since she knew of her being a Gaian. Apparently, that wasn't so as the woman glared. "You _know_ the Storm Hawks?"

The teen giggled nervously, before hearing Mee speak again, "Betrayed them to cyclones, she feels. Feels guilty, she does. Doesn't want to see them, she thinks, for fear of them not trusting her anymore." The human girl looked very disturbed by this. She wanted to disbelieve this, but it was the truth. She started to run out the door, not looking back. She didn't want to discuss this now.

The sky knight watched the girl, before glaring at the lizard. "If you are really with Repton and his cronies, then the Cyclonians would have loved to see this." Then, she ran after Emma. The shaman looked at them, before smiling.

"You're welcome, Mee says."

* * *

Emma ran; she wanted to be somewhere else right now. The raptor shaman told her of how she was a traitor. Now, she really felt like one. She stopped and looked at the sky, thinking. Maybe it would have been if she hadn't come here. 'I was being too selfish in proving to everyone that they are other worlds.'

Suddenly, she heard footsteps and turned to see Starling, who was looked at the girl with a stern face. This was a bad sign; maybe she was angry at the fact that she didn't tell the woman about her experience with the Storms Hawks. Either that or the betrayal, but it was her past before her rescue when the sky knight asked, "Why didn't you tell me about the Storm Hawks?"

"I thought you knew," the brunette answered, "You knew about me being a Gaian, I thought you probably knew about me being with the Storm Hawks." Then, she heard the purple-haired lady sighed. The child had used the age-old human ability of jumping to conclusions. It works at times, but mostly all Earth's wars were from that technique. This was going to be another one as Starling turned her with a firm look on her face.

"It doesn't matter, anyway. We're still sticking to the plan." The sky knight answered, while looking at the girl. The girl started to think about this. The shaman did warn them that there was no terra same for her. Was it really true? If it was, was it because of the Cyclonians or of her heritage? Maybe it would have been safer just to be alone.

"Can I just live as a recluse for the rest of my life?" Emma asked trying to sound like it was the right choice. The sky knight didn't buy it as she sighed. The Gaian wasn't taking this seriously; not only was Atmos in danger, but Gaia as well.

"You can't. It's obvious that you can't defend yourself against Talons and Murk Raiders. And did you forget, both are after you." the woman explained, making the girl feel useless. She knew she wasn't strong, but for some reason, it made her feel angry. She breathed it out and decided to come up with a good counter for this.

"So," the teen started, before continuing, "You're alone, and you're doing fine. You rescue me by yourself. Where's your squadron? Did they have other important things to do?" Okay, that was probably not the best thing to do.

Starling stared at the girl like a lion to a rebellious cub. "My squadron," she began, "Was killed by Raptors. I wasn't there when they did it, but I got there to see that bloody lizard mangled my wingman. Since then, I only relied on myself unless the job is too big for one sky knight. But it is best to rely on yourself, especially when you know you can do it."

The teen stood in silence, as the sky knight started to walk back to camp, saying, "I'm going back. I expect you to do the same." Once she was gone, the child started to mentally beat herself up. She didn't know that and now she angered someone who was giving her a ride from terra to terra. She decided not to go back in order not to be creamed.

"Confused, you are. Yes?" a familiar voice asked, causing the Gaian to jump. She turned to see Mee. The raptor probably followed them, and had been listening to them. "Talk, you must. Tell what ails you, you must."

Emma blinked, not sure what to say. She wasn't given any chance for speech when she wasn't in the class room. She didn't know whether to lie and said she was fine, or to just tell her the truth of how she was traitor to the Storms Hawks now. Oh man, the shaman was right; she was confused.

Suddenly, the brunette breathed in as she explained her problem, "I'm a traitor to the first friends I made here. I guess I'll deserve what they have in store for me when we meet again."

"Ahh, believe betrayer of last knight of storms, you did." the lizard said, sounding a little bit calm. It wasn't a lie; the Storm Hawks really thought of her as traitor after the girl left. But there was something else bothered her, something she didn't realized until now.

"It isn't just that, it's all these factions. Sky knights, Talons, Raptors, Murk Raiders, I just don't know which to chose. Usually, I would go with the good guys, you know, those who stand up for truth and justice, like on those old movies. But now, it's all so gray, like World of Warcraft. I don't know whether I have all the facts or if sky knights are good, or if I should like the Raptors, or if the Cyclonians are trying to restore world order, or anything!"

Mee listened, nodding as the teen breathed heavily. "Ahhhh… Loyalty issues, you have… Advice, Mee has. Go with those you feel best with." This was strange advice; Emma didn't know if this was a good sign or now. "Now, make you feel better, does it?"

"… Kinda." the Gaian answered. She felt okay, but still as wasn't in high spirits as she should have been. The lizard hissed before walking away. But she stopped and turned back to the girl, her eyes glowing.

"If still feeling low, do something than nothing." the shaman directed, before walking off. The human female blinked, before thinking. Do something than nothing, that's was a strange thing to say. She was on a remote terra with no TV, no internet, and no entertainment. What is there to do?

Then, the girl looked at a rock and thought for a moment. Maybe there was something. She stood up and walked over to it, trying to think of something. Once she got a basic idea, she took out a stone and started to scratch out some words. If she was to die in Atmos, she might as well give a few words of encouragement to someone else of Earth who went here by mistake as well. That and it kept her busy.

* * *

The mourning came quickly as light entered on the terra. The illumination caused shadows to form from the rocky structures. A certain shadow was cased over a certain Gaian, as she woke up to see Starling hovering over her like a hawk; she must have fallen asleep while finishing up her "words of wisdom".

"… As much as I think that you could do anything stranger, you surprised me." the sky knight said, as the teen stood up. She smiled goofy while rubbing the back of her head.

"Thank you," Emma said, while laughing a bit. The woman sighed while shaking her head. This child really was slow.

"It wasn't a compliment." Starling stated, making the Gaian blushed with embarrassment. Then, she breathed in as she said, "Come on, let's get off this terra. Who knows what else could be out here." She started to walk, but turned to see the girl standing there. She was looking down, probably thinking of something.

"Starling… I'm sorry for mentioning your squadron like that and the other stuff I've said." she mentioned as the sky knight heard her. She paused for a moment, before walking up to her. Then, she raised her arm and knocked the other human female on the forehead. The younger rubbed her head in confusion.

"Stop dwelling on that. It doesn't matter anyway. I'm still alive, and I can still remember the things we experienced when they were here." the woman lamented, before looking at the child. "Now, let us leave." Then, she started back towards her skimmer. Emma followed, but turned back to a non-scratched out sentence out of the many she wrote. She smiled a bit, before running to catch up. She was proud of what she wrote.

_If there are any other Gaians out on Atmos as well,  
__I'm here and waiting._

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hey, guys! It's me again! Here's an update, sorry if it isn't as action-packed as the last ones or written as good, but it's an update.

For starters, I definitely owned the shaman Raptor, Mee. I always thought the Raptors were still in the tribal stage of civilized development. I think when the Terradons started to go into science, that's when Raptor superstition and modern technology started to fight until Mee left. Strange, huh?

I also tried to go with a Yoda speech pattern for Mee. Yes, I'm a Star Wars fan… And I think I did an epic phail with the speech.

Now, I like to thank Tuberculosis Queen and Kitten2007 for reviewing. Here's the update, and don't be afraid to ask questions or anything. I might be a little bit slow on the next chapter. Oh, I have it plan... Just not good enough.

Please Read and Review!


	12. Chapter 12: Into Enemy Territory

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 12: Into Enemy Territory_

Three hours had passed and there was still no civilized terra in sight; well, at least no civilized terra with a sky knight squadron anyway. The two had did some terra hopping, in which Emma's fear of heights and going stiff every time she looked down. With that, Starling had inquired the Gaian about her being afraid. She lied, of course; a sky knight's top priority was the dark forces of Cyclonia first and the well-being of another worldly being last.

The travelers were on another deserted terra, with the Interceptor fixing up her sky ride. The teen was lying on a rock, staring at the sky. She was wondering if she was going to adjust to her new life on Atmos. Being with the Storm Hawks helped a little, but she wasn't sure. Maybe it was the wanting to be with them, even if she was a traitor. She continued to think until her stomach grumbled.

The girl frizzed up before grabbing her stomach. She didn't have much to eat and was getting to the edge of dying of starvation. The woman noticed this, and got out what looked like beef jerky. She walked over to the brunette and held it to her face, telling the other girl, "Eat it."

"… Is it from an endangered animal here?" Emma asked, smiling a bit. Oh, she liked meat, especially steak. But she also loved animals as well, which was weird, since most people would consider those who love animals not to eat them to be vegans. This was not true, since the teen didn't like eating fruits or veggies, except for potatoes, corn, and others she was forced to eat. So, she came up with a rule that says, she will eat meat, except if the animal it came from was a pet, an animal that isn't establish as food, and/or an endangered species.

Starling rolled her eyes and said, forcefully, "Just eat it." And with that, the Gaian quickly grabbed it and started to eat it. It was tough and salty, like jerky, and had that smoked flavor as well. It was chewy also, which meant that it was all good. She turned back to the woman with a smile on her face. The other female couldn't help but smiled back also for the strands of meat stuck on the child's teeth.

Suddenly, an explosion was heard, making the two jumped a bit. Then, there was smoke coming from the far reaches of a hill. It was strange, though; they were the ones on this terra… Weren't they?

The sky knight started to sneak up the hill, wanting to see where the smoke was coming from. If whoever caused it was still there, it would be best to be sneaky. A person can never know if something is hostile or not. The girl followed; she gave into her curiosity of what could have caused that explosion. But once they got to the top, they quickly hid once they saw where its foundation was.

Down in the rocky valley, there was a mining complex. But not just any mining complex, this one was being run by Talons. The soldiers were bringing up crystals to a small building with a smoke stake coming out on top. With guards all over the place, the travelers had a very good reason to hide.

"You stay here," Starling commanded, "I'll go in and check out what's going on." The teen nodded, understanding the situation. As much as she would like to go in to find her sister, she was still inexperienced in stealth. Once they saw her, they'll be after her in a second. And the Interceptor was sky knight and was more experienced than she was. Yes, it was definitely best to stay behind.

As the Gaian watched the woman walked around, she looked down and started to think. She wondered which she would give into first; her curiosity or her impatience.

* * *

Starling had a closer view as she watched the Talons worked. It was strange to see them on a remote terra like this unless there was something important, important for turning the tide to Cyclonia's favor. And as a protector of Atmos, she will not let that happened.

The sky knight turned around for a moment and started to get dress into her Talon uniform. As much as she hated to wear the sign of tyranny, it was necessary. Waltzing in, alone, with a weapon, was okay for assault. But this wasn't a battle; this was to see what was going on here. So, the outfit had to do.

Once being fully dressed, she walked out towards the building. It was so easy, the other Talons didn't notice her and even if they did, they thought she was just another face in the crowd. As said before, Talons were the most oblivious on Atmos.

Once reaching the building, the woman noticed the entranceway, which was an elevator. This meant that there were sublevels underneath the structure. There probably was a hanger where skimmers travel back and forth for stealth missions as well; a way to get on this terra without anyone noticing.

Starling went into the elevator, soon to be join by five other Talons. She watched as one of them pressed a button in order to go down. She smiled, so far, so good.

* * *

Emma sighed as she tapped her fingers on the rock. How long had the Interceptor been gone? It probably had been five, ten minutes tops. It felt like forever to the teen. She knew she had to wait, but she felt eager to get up and rush down there. Maybe it wouldn't hurt just to get up and move closer.

Just as she was about to stand up straight, a bang was heard as she felt a light gust past her shoulder. The teen quickly sat down, thinking, 'They have GUNS now?!' Out of all the long-range weapons she saw, they had mostly been crossbows and the regular bows and arrows. She assumed that the Atmosians were still in the stage of medieval weapons; oh, how wrong she was about that. She was breathing deeply, until she heard a familiar cackle.

"Hello again, Gaian!" cried a familiar voice, as the girl peeked to where the source. She quickly went back down as she realized who she was dealing with. The Murk Raiders were down there and they had somehow followed her. That was the last thing she needed, being on a remote terra without a protection, between pirate zombies and an evil army. What a great situation to be in.

Captain Scabulous smiled as he called, "You're probably wondering how we found you?" Of course, that was on her mind right now. "I knew you were going to leave me again. So, I put a tracer on you in case you did so successfully." The Gaian blinked, before looking at the back of her coat. She felt irritated as she didn't realize it sooner. There was a mini-skull and crossbones Murk Raider symbol on the back of her coat. The pirate must have put it on when she was in the Slum Markets; no wonder why it felt sore on the back of her neck after the fiasco.

"Accordingly, no matter where you hide, I'll be able to find you," the pirate said, as he loaded his pistol with mini-crystal pellets and then checked his tracing mechanism. "For example, you are hiding behind the third rock from the left." The brunette blinked, before checking her hands. Then, she counted the rocks from the left to right.

'Ha! He miscounted. I'm the fourth rock from the left.' she thought, as she smirked big. But her hopes dwindled as a bullet quickly past the rock she was hiding from, only chipping it a bit. Now, she realized that the man was counted the rocks right; the boulder she counted was so far away, no one could have seen it.

"Now, I'll give you a fair chance, lassie." Scabulous said, before putting his pistol away, "I'll give you to ten to come down here and turn yourself in. If you don't, we'll come up there and drag you back with us!" His crew snickered as he counted; they were going to enjoy this, whether the child went down or not. Once their leader finished counting, the pirates all raised their weapons and started to run up the hill. When they got there, their jaws dropped.

She was gone.

The captain growled before taking out his tracer. The little blinking dot showed that their prey was heading in the southwest direction. He looked up to see that the picture was right and growled in annoyance. "Dang it! She's harder to catch than before!"

"Then why are we still chasing her, captain?" asked one of the smaller crew members, as their leader turned to them. It was odd, but he smiled as he asked that.

"Well, we've gotten this far, what's a few miles wouldn't hurt, right?" he asked, making it a rhetorical question. The pirate started to walk done, before noticing that his group wasn't following them. He turned around before scalding, "Why are you staying behind?!"

"Ummmm… Well, that's a Cyclonian base… And they might be mad if we walk into there." said Eyeball, hoping that his excuse would work. It didn't as the captain slapped his forehead; he had the most cowardly crew in all of Atmos. Oh sure, they weren't cowards when they were on the ship, or when they knew they had the advantage. But when it came to an army, they turned into chickens and flee. It was very irritating.

"You know, there's much more to being a pirate than just the plunder." Scabulous started, before going into a speech, "Sure, we have been robbin' and lootin', but it's also about being a free man! Where a single person commands you to do something and you say no! To defy and steal from a government who has been a treating us like rats! Cyclonia is that government and as pirates, it is our right to strike at it with all our intentions combine!" The crew didn't budge; it was time for plan B. "If you go down there, there will be cake for the next three weeks." Soon, they all cheered and started to head down. Behold the power of persuasive

The captain smiled, before taking out his crystal bullets and putting in some lead ones. Oh, the bullets weren't for his quarry but for those who stand in his way.

* * *

The Cyclonian propaganda of a Talon was someone who was strong, obedient, and vigilant to their cause of total domination. This was mostly true for the higher ranking officers. But for lower ranking newbies, they haven't gotten that idea into their heads yet.

A couple of Cyclonian soldiers, who had just been graduated, were playing a game of Spluk with some of the older members. It was their day off and what a better way to spend it by losing your hard-earned gold to someone who was better than you. As they played their hands, they noticed a strange girl running to the building and then waiting on the elevator to come up. Once it did, she quickly ran in and shut the door, making the elevator to go down. The soldiers watched, before going back to their game.

"Ummmm… Shouldn't we go after her?" one of them asked, as the rest glared at him. He inched back, not wanting to feel their wrath.

"No way!" another one said, "This is our day off! Let the guys inside catch her!" The other one blinked, before going back to his cards. Then, he noticed something behind the latter. It caused him to inch away from them.

"What about… Them?" he gulped, pointing behind the others. They all turned to see Murk Raiders behind them, grinning evilly. They paled as their captain picked up one of the man who wanted to keep his day off.

"Why, hello there," the pirate said, as the Talon paled, "I am looking for a girl that happened to run into your facility. And since my tracer can't zoom in enough to track her exactly, I need your insight to tell me if she went into the building or not."

The soldier gulped, before answering, "I ha-haven't seen a girl here." He was lying, of course. Everyone knew that by how terrified he was. The Murk Raider leader smiled, before dropping the man, but before he could leave, the zombie whipped out something and a bang was heard.

The Cyclonians all watched as their companion fell to the ground, limp. They all looked up to see that Scabulous was holding some weird weapon that they have never seen before. The squadron looked in between the body and that shooter, as the thought came into their minds. The Talon was dead.

"Oh my god! You killed Denny!"

"You bastard!"

They quickly turned silent as the zombie pirate pointed his weapon at them next. "Now, I'm going to ask you again… Is the girl in the building or not?" The soldiers quickly stood there silently; why would the Murk Raiders want that girl? She didn't seem like the type to go up against them. So why would they go after some stupid child?

The group stood silently before one of them spoke. "She went into the building." the man answered, being as calm as possible. The captain smiled, believing him as he put his gun away.

"Come on boys! We have a Gaian to catch!" the captain said, as he and his crew started to go into the building. The Talons watched as they went in. They wondered what type of evil they let in.

Out of all of them, one said, "Maybe we should contact for help…" The rest quickly nodded; they had forgotten about their day off.

* * *

Starling easily walked through the hallways of the complex. The Talons still haven't notice her, but she did took precaution of sneaking around so she wouldn't have any distractions. She looked above a manufacturing room to see the workers refining the Storm crystals and then inserting them into their weapons. This was definitely hidden forge, and it was her job for the Sky Council to know about this.

The sky knight was about to move along, but she stopped when some Cyclonians came around the corner. Before they noticed her, she slipped into a dimly lighted room. There wasn't much there except for a desk with some papers on it. She might as well look at those papers since she was a spy anyway.

The woman went over to the desk and picked up the first paper. She gasped as she read the title; these were by Louis. Louis was a famous archeologist in Atmos, even more so than Domiwick. But his reputation went down the drain after he went in search for proof of living Gaians. This must have been his notes during the trip. The Interceptor breathed before reading the papers.

_Report #1_

_It has been a month since I have left in search of proof. I had proposed to the Sky Council about my theory on the existence Gaia and my proposal to go to their world in order to get help into defeating the Talons. Their stories have inspired us to fight Cyclonia 500 years ago. Why not ask them in our cause? They, of course, pushed it away, saying not to go chasing after fairy tales. Feeling that they needed more proof, I came up with the expedition near the Great Expanse in order to find a campsite that housed the Gaian culture and history of the Gaia/Atmos war. With fifty crew members, we travel the border, trying not to be lured in by Sky Sirens… We are at less than half of what we started, but I'll continue even if it costs me my life._

_Report #2_

_We found it! On a small terra, there is a well-preserved campsite that once held Gaian soldiers. I could tell by the flag it bore. All around were ancient artifacts from the olden war: Swords, Bows, Axes, all the weapons that didn't have the crystal infused technology that we have today. But out of all the things I have seen, I came upon something that interested me. It was an etching in sand, depicting probably his family back on his world. I wanted to ask so many things, but I knew we were close to the Expanse. This could all be faked and we would be in a Siren trap. It was best to leave… Who knows what terrible dangers lurk in these parts._

_Report #3_

_Damn it! I thought they didn't exist! But sure enough, my crew and I came across Murk Raiders. They came out at us so fast, we didn't expect it. Their leader seemed not to know of fear when he struck us before getting back to the safe zone. I saw him once; he was the one who disordered my room and took my notes on the Gaian race. He reviewed over them before commenting on how inaccurate they were. I wanted to ask him why, but he knocked me out. When I woke up, I was in a cell with him. He told me that since I was a man of science, he wouldn't want me to be part of his crew. But he did say that he had something to show me. Once he left, I wondered what fate had in stored for me._

_Report #4_

_Ugh! Disgusting! I wanted to barf when I saw it. The Murk Raiders came back to their home of Terra Deep and brought us to a city inside the clouds. There, I saw their own kind in daily life, females too. They acted like the sort they were, pirates. They took us inside a building and then into a chamber, where a green crystal was glowing strangely. His first mate grabbed one of my team members and brought him up to the crystal and held him there. Then, a strange transformation started as the crystal started to glow more brightly than before; his hands, his feet, his skin, everything that once made him human was changing into one of them. I wanted to turn my head away, but the kind captain held it tight. Once it was done, the captain said that in order to get what we have always wanted for all our lives, they had to give up our whole humanity. He also added that the clouds also change them, but the source was much faster. __Then, he threw me to the ground and yell to take me back to the ship. The obeyed and started to drag me back. Along the way, I thought I saw another human, trying to sneak out. I wanted to yell, but my conscious allowed me to keep quiet. I didn't want a young soul to become like them._

_Report #5_

_It has been… I don't know. The pirates left me on some forsaken terra. There's no food, no water, and I'm going mad. It won't be long before I lose all my mind and die of both starvation and dehydration. If anyone finds these papers, please try to give them to the council. This is the only proof of my theory on Gaia. The Murk Raiders have taken everything else. Please, let someone know of my research. Gaia is real!_

Once Starling finished reading, her eyes were filled with shock. Was that what really happen to Louis? Maybe it was a fake, someone trying to play a trick. A thousand possibilities ran through her mind, before the alarm started to ring.

"Attention all Talons, be on the lookout for intruders in the facility! One of them is a girl wearing strange clothes! The rest are Murk Raiders! Exactly ten of them! Use plenty of caution! … In other words, KILL KILL KILL!!"

The sky knight rolled her eyes when she heard that. Somehow, the child she was protecting got into trouble again. Maybe she should have brought the Gaian with her so that she would have a chance of survival. But that didn't matter now; she needed to find her before something worse happens.

The Interceptor set the papers back on the desk and ran back outside. Some Talons ran past her and she blended in with them again. Maybe they had a slight idea of where Emma was.

* * *

Emma ran as quickly as she could, very tired from the sprinting she was doing. She wanted to stop and rest, but kept on going. She didn't want to be captured again; she didn't like those pirates. She looked back to see if she was being followed, before hitting hard on something and falling to the floor.

The Gaian felt a little dizzy; she thought she was seeing little dragons flying around her head. For some strange reason, they looked like little tiny Bahamuts from the Final Fantasy series. Once she came too, she looked up to see the pirates she was trying to run away from. They smiled at her, which made her pretty uncomfortable.

"Not only does show where you are, but it also give out a depth perception as well," Captain Scabulous said, before picking the girl up. This definitely looked like a very bad situation. It went to worst when some Talons came around the corner and pointed their staves at the Murk Raiders. The soldiers outnumbered the criminals by a lot. Even though the leader was smiling confidently, everyone else was on the low tide of bravery. "Come on, men! This is the moment where we make our stand!"

And just as he said that, his crew ran away. The captain stood there for a moment, before looking back, now realizing that maybe a cake dessert wasn't enough to get mice to become brave men. "Cowards!" he yelled, as he waved his metal claw back at them. The Cyclonians stood there, dumbfounded, before readying their staves and then firing energy blasts at the two.

The pirate turned to them and growled. He knew that he needed a tactical retreat; he was outnumbered and had a hostage that he wanted alive. He started to run, dragging the Gaian with him. She struggled as Scabulous ran until he came upon a room. He ran into it, threw the teen to the ground and slammed the door. The Talons who didn't stop early crashed into it with a large bang, a classic comedic ploy in action.

Those who were behind the others, wanted for them to fall down and then yelled, "Come out! We got you surrounded and more will be appearing soon." Inside the pirate ignored it and was putting up furniture against the door.

"Oh yea! Well, it will take all the king's horse and all the king's men to catch this buccaneer!" the Murk Raider said, before cackling. The brunette watched him as she got up. He started to move away from the door over to the wall, tapping the random tiles on it. Now, she started to review the situation; she was in a single room, with a man who wanted her as a trophy and an evil army who didn't like her at all. She hated to say it, but she felt that eerie dread that Stork probably felt all the time.

"We're doomed." Emma said, looking down at the floor. The pirate blinked, and turned to her. Did she say that it was hopeless? He growled; he hated it when someone gave up so easily.

"And what makes you say that, Gaian?" he asked, leaning up against the wall. The girl turned to him with a raised eyebrow. As much as she wanted to say that she had a name, she let it slide. She just knew that the man was too stubborn to see defeat.

"We are trapped. The vents are too small to fit through, and the only out is blocked with furniture and an army that doesn't exactly like us. And if we fight, it would be suicidal." she answered, saying it like it was all their options. Scabulous raised an eyebrow. She gave up before she even started; even if she was trying to sound smart, the Gaian should make her stand and fight, even if all hope was lost.

"That still doesn't matter. If you can't fight, try. It's better than being sitting ducks… Unfortunately, we won't be going out guns blazing." he said, before tapping a tile on the wall. Part of it slid, revealing a secret passage. The teen looked dumbfounded; she was mentally beating herself up for not trying it before. The captain bowed and then said, "Ladies first."

This caused the girl to tense up and remarked, "I'm not a lady… And the last time I went in first, I ended up almost getting eaten." She still remembered what that archeologist jerk did. If all the villains here were like that, she would have rather go last than be bait.

"Ahhhh… But did whoever used this to persuade you?" the zombie said, before pulling out a pistol. Well, it looked like a pirate pistol, but there were some modifications to it. There was a mini-crystal convertor on top of the barrel, for which it can take in crystal pellets. Seeing the gun made the teen quickly raised her arms up. She knew that you had to be super human to survive a gunshot.

The man captain cackled before saying, "You better start marching, missy." The girl grumbled, before walking into the deep, dark tunnel, with a gun pointed to her back. She wondered if Starling knew that she was here, and if she was, would she rescue her?

* * *

Starling was running through the hallways, trying to find the child. Everything was in chaos. There were Talons running everywhere in a state of panic; it was almost like when Cyclonis took the Aurora stone for her Storm Machine, but failed due to Aerrow destroying the crystal. Maybe they were in panicked because there were Murk Raiders in the facility. The largest army in Atmos was afraid of a few pirates; strange, huh?

"I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die." The undercovered sky knight heard, as she turned to a couple of Cyclonians. One of them was huddled in a corner, with his knees to his chest, rocking back and forth. He must have been graduated by how scared he was. She rolled her eyes at this; even if they were the enemy, they were acting immature about the situation.

Another of the Talons slapped him and said, "Get a hold of yourself, you ninny! Someone has already called for reinforcements and they're on their way here! Heck, even the Dark Ace is coming!" Now, that was definitely some bad news. The Dark Ace coming here?! Now?! The woman knew that the Gaian wasn't very much like by Talons, but to bring in the most feared pilot in the Atmos, that was overkill.

The Interceptor started to pick up the pace as she started to run. She needed to find her companion first before the soldiers, or worst, do.

* * *

Meanwhile, said-companion was walking down the dark tunnel, with a gun barrel pointing at her back. The person who was holding the weapon was the captain of the Murk Raiders, who was smiling evilly at the fact that he had her trapped. She wanted to run, but the fear of him shooting it off at her kept that desire in check. Guns kill; she got that statement across from movies and video games.

Emma looked back at the gun with a raised eyebrow. It still fascinated her; by the style, it almost looked like something from the beginning of the 18th century Earth when sailors and pirates started to take to the water. But at the same time, it still had that Atmosian crystal technology to it. Was it a prototype of a Atmosian gun or something else? She knew one thing for sure; she didn't want to see it in action right now.

"I wonder if that thing can beat a Magnum can beat that." the Gaian muttered, imagining a policeman and the captain in a showdown. The pirate won the imaginary match. The real one blinked, when he overheard the girl.

"A what?" he asked, with a sneer. Her eyes turned to him, blinking. Oh yea, they didn't came out with Modern Earth guns yet.

"It's a gun," she remarked, "Like the one you're holding, only more modern." The zombie blinked, before looking at his claw and moving it. The brunette was amazed by how it was moving like it was his own actual hand.

"What year is it back on Gaia?" he asked, looking at the back of her head. She raised an eyebrow; why would he ask her that? It was best to tell the truth since he had something that could kill her.

"2008," she answered, as the Murk Raider looked down. She thought she heard him curse under his breath. After that, things have gotten silent except for the footsteps of them moving. She couldn't stand it; the quietness and suspense was starting to get to her. It wasn't before long that they came upon the light at the end of the tunnel.

Once out of the passageway, the two ended up at a hanger. There were a few switchblades out, but no Cyclonian Destroyer in the docking bay. "We'll be staying here until my ship comes in here," Scabulous said, before sitting on a crate, "The Cyclonians didn't know that we knew of their secret getaway plan for this place, so they would never suspect where we are at this exact moment."

Emma gulped, feeling uncomfortable. She was trying to think of some way to get out of this situation; but all the possibilities let to her getting shot. Suddenly, there was the loudness of footsteps, drawing near the hanger. This was probably the Cyclonians; so much for having the two-steps ahead advantage.

The captain quickly turned to the teen and commanded, "Get behind the crates, Gaian! I'll defeat those ignorant sky dogs!" She quickly obeyed; it was the logical thing to do since he was stronger and crazy enough to defeat an army of evil soldiers that are bent on taking over the world. She quickly hid behind the crates and watched. It would be interesting to see this pirate's fighting style.

The man put his gun in his vest, but just out enough for anyone to see it. He counted on the chance that the Talons might see it and get scared. Then, he took out his sabre, just in case they were stupid enough to not see his long-range weapon. Then, he just stood there; ready to fight the humans who wanted to control the skies. But after a few moments, it wasn't what he expected.

It was his crew, running towards him with scared faces.

The pirate had a surprised look as the others quickly stopped when they saw that there captain was there. They started to tremble with fear; a captain's wrath was much worse than a thousand Talons, especially when it was Captain Scabulous. They were about to turn back, only to see a bunch of Cyclonians behind them. The soldiers were coming through the tunnel, the entrance, and everywhere that was a way into the hanger. The Murk Raiders were trapped, caught with staves pointed at their faces

The captain growled, know that it was suicidal to attack him. He was so close to having the Gaian, so close, but these idiots had to go and spoiled it all. As much as he wanted to slay them all, he knew he and his crew didn't stand a chance against large numbers. He looked back to the girl and noticed something, something that would probably turn the tide. The captain smiled evilly, before turning his head to the front, raising his arms and saying, "Fine, we surrender."

Everyone paled in confusion by how the pirate said that. Wasn't he the one who risk his life for anything that was worth the highest value? Why was he giving up before fighting the Cyclonians? This was really strange.

Emma blinked from her hiding place, being confused by this. Why would the Murk Raiders surrender like that? Sure, they were outnumbered, but were they more stubborn than this? At least the captain was, but this was a strange turn of events.

"… You know, I think I should have seen this coming." the girl muttered, thinking that the captain now realized that he was doomed in the first place. Unfortunately, she didn't see another thing coming. She didn't hear the footsteps approaching behind her. She didn't notice the shadows that was towering her. She didn't see what was about to happen next.

"Ya think?" said a very annoying, yet familiar voice, which caused the teen's instincts to act up. She turned around to see who it was, only to get punch in the head, hard. It was so hard; it caused her to become disoriented. The room spun, as she saw figures spinning in front of her. She was about to say something before she fell down to the ground. Her vision blackened before she fainted into total knockout.

* * *

Game, check, updated! I finally got this chapter done. Sorry, if it wasn't good. Like I said, I haven't fully planned it out yet.

Hopefully, you notice some foreshadowing and/or Easter Eggs in this chap: one of them being the reports. You know, for those who are interested into learning out why Cyclonis decided to conquer Earth. Talk about bad Karma for the sky knights.

Also, I do not own the "OMG! You killed Kenny!" joke. It is owned by the creators of South Park and the first person who did this joke in Storm Hawks. I always thought about doing this joke with the Talons. Sorry if you don't find it funny.

But I do own Captain Scabulous' gun. I have seen the long-range weapons in Storm Hawks and I realized that they were still in the process of crossbows and the regular bow. I decided to give the Murk Raider a gun because he's a pirate and most pirates use guns. Don't ask me where he got it… All I know is that I probably made a big mistake.

As for the Murk Raiders invading a Cyclonian base, I'm not sure if that would happen... Ever. This is my perception on it if they do try to invade a Cyclonian base.

Also, I would like to thank MissDedodakes, Kitten2007, and Shauna for reviewing and Carnelianeyez for faving this story. For MissDedodakes, this was the plan… It wasn't plan enough. Sorry, if this is poor.

Next Chapter will come up soon, I promise.

Please Read and Review!


	13. Chapter 13: Somewhere I belong

Disclaimer: All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

_Chapter 13: Somewhere I Belong_

Emma woke up, with the room spinning. She was still in the hanger, but she felt something was different. The only thing she could remember that someone sucker-punched her really hard. She wanted to stand, but felt that she couldn't move her hands, or arms, or her shoulders either. She looked down and saw that she was tied up. She started to struggle until she heard a familiar voice.

"Don't bother, you're as tight as a witch burning." the voice said, as the girl looked up to see Captain Scabulous. He and his crew were all tied like her. In front of them were Talons, who were keeping a safe distance from the prisoners. They were trembling with fear; fear of being dead as door nails. You know Murk Raiders, always full of deadly surprises.

"Cowards!" yelled a familiar voice, as Snipe appeared and walked over to the tied-up captives. "They're tied up and you're still scared." Then, he started to poke one of the pirates. "See, I'm brave enough to get close." Suddenly, he felt a throbbing pain in his finger as he looked down to see the Raider he was poking was biting his finger. He instantly yanked his finger out and looked at it, as it pulsated with pain. The rest of the pirates laughed, as he growled.

"Idiot, don't provoke the wild animals." another familiar voice said, as Ravess appeared as well. She glared at the captured group, mostly the younger girl. The brunette glared back as they both imagined giving each other gruesome punishments. For some reason, all the guys felt the room getting colder and scarier.

Suddenly, solemn footsteps entered the hanger as another recognizable voice said, "Will you two stop it? The entire Atmos can hear you, damn it." This caused the girl to go stiff. She didn't want to see him again; not now in her position. He was going to kill, resurrect, and then kill her again. The only Cyclonian that she really didn't appreciate other than Ravess,

The Dark Ace.

The head commander walked over to Emma and taunted, "Well, isn't it the lost earth child, finally returned to the winning side, I see." Then, he took out his sword and activated the energy blade. "Unfortunately for you, the Cyclonians see no use for you anymore." This caused everyone to pale; the Gaian felt her spirit leaving her body. He was going to kill her?!

"You're going to kill her?! Now?!" yelled the giant, who was completely surprised by this. He probably didn't get the memo. Ravess rolled her eyes at the ignorant life of a brother.

"Yes, we're going to kill her. Too many people know about her and more will probably find out if she continues to live." the female commander explained, before sighing. That would clarify the situation for her sibling's pea brain mind. Then, she turned to the Dark Ace and said, "But I agree with killing her now. Let's head back for Cyclonia to give her… A "proper" death."

The brunette shivered, as the black-haired man turned to the woman with a cold stare. "How 'bout no. If we keep her alive before we reach Cyclonia, there's still a chance of her being discovered by others. It's better to kill her while we have an opportunity."

"It's better than spilling her blood all over this clean hanger!" The woman yelled, glaring back at the head commander. She would rather have an alive Gaian back at the capital than a dirty hanger with stinky Gaian blood spilled. Most of the Talons grunts agreed; they didn't want to clean the hanger again. The two continued to glare until a cough was heard.

"I have a suggestion, why don't we just give her to the Murk Raiders?" The commanders turned to Snipe with a confused look on their faces. Why would the oaf suggest that? His sister blinked, while thinking that.

"And why do you suggest that, dear brother?" she said with a smug look on her face. Everyone, except the Dark Ace got scared. Ravess was acting nice, and she only acted like that when she wanted something. In every guy's opinion, this was the evilest form of the female species.

The bigger man blinked confusedly before answering, "…I don't want to have a Gaian-blood stain on the hanger either!" Everyone facefaulted, that was the stupidest reason ever. It seemed that it was normal, but there was the sinking feeling that something wasn't right.

It went quiet for a second before the other commanders responded, "No." The Dark Ace still wanted to kill her now, while Ravess had the idea of escorting her to an execution. It wasn't before long before the three started to argue.

"Kill her now!"

"Later!"

"Give her to the pirates!"

This went on for about five minutes before someone yelled, "Hold it!" Everyone turned to the voice to see Captain Scabulous smiling evilly. For some reason, it scared every Talon to pieces. "I think you're looking at this all wrong. After all, we have someone who could probably decide this situation." He looked over at Emma, which caused everyone to follow their graze to her as well. She paled; they were all thinking the same thing, using her to decide her own fate. She really didn't want to decide right now. All options lead to her dying; the only difference was the length of time.

The Dark Ace blinked, before taking it under heavy consideration. It seemed unorthodox, with her being a prisoner. But it could be fun for him. He knew that she really didn't have a chance to get out of it. It was either being a prisoner to sky buccaneers or being dead. He smiled evilly before slashing his sword at the ropes.

The Gaian gulped before standing up, as the black-haired man said, "Alright then, it's her choice. She has five minutes to say what she wants." Then, he moved in on her face and smirked. "Go ahead. Say what you want. It would be your last words that we would have to hear."

The teen felt mocked, but she was panicking on what to say. If she chose execution back on Cyclonia, she would die. If she chose an execution here, she would die still, but much quicker. If she chose being with the Murk Raiders, she would be their slave and probably die much, much later as the latter two. Either that or get killed by the Cyclonians because their sore losers. So, when it came to those choices, she felt she got the short end of the deal.

'Too much… pressure,' the girl thought, trying to figure out a way to get out of this. So far, she came up with nothing. Well, nothing that would allow her to make it out alive. At times, she knew what she wanted when it came to food or something that interested her, but now she had to think really hard on what she wanted or else be killed by choosing the wrong option. She couldn't help it; she was dead before she even could make her choice.

Suddenly, an image of the Storm Hawks passed through her mind. It was a memory she had to repress because it was embarrassing for her. Finn decided to cook using one of the wallop recipes Junko kept, but using his other ingredients to make it better. Once word got out, the rest of the team went in order to stop him. The teen was heading for the kitchen before getting blasted in the face with gooey pink stuff. Instead of holding a grudge, she tasted it and said it was like something she never tasted. When she asked what it was made of, they answered mashed-up Roc intestines. She instantly ran to bathroom to get it out of her system; it was worst that her parents tricking her into thinking calamari was sea potatoes.

But for some reason, it made Emma snicker. It was probably because it was the silliest thing she did in a long time. At times, she felt like an idiot for doing stupid things, but with that crazy sky squadron, it seemed that they didn't mind stupid. She truly wanted to be with them. Even though it wasn't a choice, her mind didn't care anyway. Unfortunately, her mind also had a habit of saying stupid things at the same time.

"I want to be with the Storm Hawks." the Gaian said, before opening her eyes to the faces of everyone in the room. Most of them were all shocked, except for the Dark Ace. He had a calm face, but he was hiding all his angry and frustration. That wasn't even a choice and she still wanted to be with those brats; what was she thinking?!

"That wasn't a choice." The head commander said, while grinding his teeth, "You have one minute left." Dang, she didn't have her cellphone or a watch. The teen was pretty sure the black-haired man shortened the time after she said that. She tried to think of something else, but the mentioning of being with the Storm Hawks still floated around her head. She couldn't help it; she really wanted to be with the group. Besides, didn't the Dark Ace tell her to say what she wants? It was time for her to speak her mind.

"So… You said I can say what I want. I want to be with the Storm Hawks. You didn't actually say I have to choose from any of those choice." the girl said, while holding her arms to her chest. There were mummers in the room saying how she got a point, which got on the Dark Aces' nerves. There was no way he was going to let another child make a fool out of him.

"That still doesn't matter. You're still a traitor to them!" he said, only in a harsher tone. The brunette flinched but stood her ground. She didn't care about that anymore. She didn't want to die and she didn't want to be a Murk Raider's pet. She wanted to be on the Condor, with Aerrow, Finn, Piper, Junko, Radarr, and even Stork, even if he hated her Earth germs. As much as she didn't care about the war between the sky knights of Atmos and the empire of Cyclonia, the squadron would probably didn't care about her position anyway. Well, as long as she wasn't working for their enemy.

"I don't care! I don't like you guys! I didn't want to be a traitor in the first place!" she yelled, staring at the man straight in the eye. "By the way, it takes one to know one, you no-good, arrogant, piece of-!" Slap! Everyone gasped as the Gaian fell to the floor. Both of the two had taken it too far, as the commander stared at her with a glare. She touched her cheek with hurt to a certain extent, but she tried to show no pain. All of them were bullies and if she showed if she was weak, it would make them win. She was about to get up, but the Cyclonian senior officer set his foot on her body and pressed it down hard.

"Heh, you are more trouble than you're worth," he said, before pressing harder against her position, "And to think that if we said that you were with us, you'll be more cooperative." The Dark Ace then kicked her, making the teen go as far as near the edge. Some of the captured pirates started to boo the Cyclonian commander, but he just brushed it off. He watched as Emma crawled away from the edge, smirking. This made his day.

The commander then snapped his fingers, and two grunts came to the girl and picked her up. "Take her to a room until we decide how to get rid of her." The two saluted and started to drag her out of the hanger. The other commanders came up to their boss and stared at him strangely. Had he finally lost his patience with the other-worlder?

"… Over did it much?" Ravess mocked, which caused the black-haired man to glare at her. He was the only one who did the ridiculing around here. The man and woman glared at each other, ready to begin their argument again. The bigger commander noticed this, and decided to join in too with his suggestions.

While the three Talons argued, the captain of the Murk Raiders growled. Out of all the times the Gaian had to grow a backbone, she picked this time. Now, she ruined his plan to have her in his pet collection. Oh well, it was time for plan B.

"Oh, if you're not busy…" Scabulous said, causing the trio to turn to him, "Perhaps we could make a trade, your Gaian prisoner for some information." This caught their attention; what could the pirate possibly give them?

The Dark Ace turned to him and asked, "What information?" The captain smiled. It seemed he bought it; hook, line, sinker.

* * *

Starling continued to look for her companion, but to no avail. It seemed like the teen was gone for good until she saw two Talons carrying what seemed to be what she was looking for. They were chatting away on how boring it was to find a room for some idiot Gaian. Yup, that was her. Who else would get into situations like these? The woman sighed in embarrassment.

She started to walk up to them, saying, "If you don't mind, I would like to take her off your hands." The soldiers looked at her, happy that someone came to relieve them of their duty. But then, they remembered something, something about the last times two unknown Talons coming in and asking to watch the Gaian, in which every peon knew that didn't like watching some stupid Gaian. They were about to jump the imposter, until she knocked them out.

Emma watched as the woman made the two talons unconscious. She gulped, knowing what was going scorn for heading here on her own, without any protect. The purple-haired, older female sighed; this was really embarrassing, saving the same person for the third time.

"You know, this is getting really annoying." she said, making the younger girl smiled with embarrassment. This made the older one sighed even more before commanding, "Come on, we need to get out of here, right now!" She started to walk away, before hearing the child speak.

"… Wait," she started, as the sky knight turned around, looking at the teen, "I know this goes against your plan of getting me to a safe terra, but…" There was a long pause as Starling sighed; if this was about being a recluse, then it was a definite no. But what came out surprised her to the highest degree possible. "I want to be with the Storm Hawks."

The Interceptor's eyes widened. She knew the child was with the Storm Hawks for a while before she left them. She also heard that the younger girl didn't want to be with the squadron for some unknown reason as well. Now, this was a complete turn-around, so she asked, "Why?"

The Gaian took a deep breath before answering, "Because if I have to be in this world for who knows how long, I would rather be with them than anyone else in this place I can think of. I had great time with them and they were really nice to me. Even if I am a Gaian or a traitor, I don't care. I want to be with the Storm Hawks!"

The woman stared at her, thinking about it. It seemed pretty redundant; even if the Storm Hawks were unofficial, they were still for the sky knights. If a person was with the Storm Hawks, that probably meant they were for sky knights, but maybe the child didn't know that. But she was really confused about the traitor part, so she asked, "What do you mean by being a traitor?"

"The Dark Ace said I was traitor for the Cyclonians," the girl responded, with a non-poker face. The sky knight sighed; it seemed that the brunette bought something the Dark Ace would have said in order to trick the Gaian.

"What are you talking about?" Starling said before explaining, "The Dark Ace only said that in order to make sure you wouldn't go back to the Storm Hawks. But you really didn't believe it, did you?" Then, she watched as the child paled. The Dark Ace had lied to her. And she believed it! She went stiff as she thought she heard every god, goddess, demon, dragon, angel, alien, and any other being higher than a human ever imagined laughing at her.

The Interceptor started to walk again before noticing that the girl was still standing like a statue. She rolled her eyes and went back, starting to drag the teen out of here. She didn't notice someone in a faraway corner watching them, someone wearing Talon uniform. As the two disappear, he pressed something near his ear and said, "Hey, guys, I think we've been tricked."

* * *

Meanwhile, the three commanders and the Murk Raider were in a small interrogation room like the one you would see on those cop shows. It was metal and bare with only a table and a chair for the prisoner to sit in. The pirate was in hand-cuffs because the risks the Cyclonians were taking for negotiating with a dangerous criminal. They even had guards posted at the door. Scabulous stared at the trio with a disapproval look and exclaimed, "Is this really necessary?"

"Yes, now tell us what information you have for us." The Dark Ace commanded, glaring at the captain. The zombie only grinned as he matched his eyes with the head commander. This was going to be fun.

"First, the Gaian," he said, causing all three to facefault. He was on the disadvantage and he still wanted the stupid Gaian before giving them any facts. Was he really that arrogant?!

"No! Info first, then you'll get your reward," The black-haired man said, before adding, "Unless you want death as your reward." The sky pirate frowned a bit, but then smirked. Something was definitely wrong now.

"Alright then… There is a spy in your army," he said, as everyone went silent. There was a spy in the Cyclonian army?! This was bad; who knows what information he or she was leaking out to their enemy or worst?! The giant seemed really nervous about this. But soon the rest of the room was stupefied when he said, "But I can't tell you, he's my spy."

Everyone in the room facefaulted again, realizing that it was just a trick by Scabulous to get them untrustworthy of each other. The Dark Ace glared at him as he commented, "That isn't good enough." The pirate frowned; this was going to be harder than he thought.

"Fine then," he said, before starting, "I know where a very powerful crystal is." The trio leaned forward, before the captain said, "But I can't tell you that either, it's in my territory." This caused the Cyclonians to facefault… Again. This was getting really annoying.

"Tell us what information you have, or else the next words out of your mouth would be your last!" the head commander snarled, slamming her hands on the table with his face twitching. The prisoner looked shocked by this, but remained his cool. It seemed he was ready to be serious.

"You want information," he said, as everyone leaned forward with anticipation. But it shattered once he finished his sentence with, "You should really go to Hell's Hole. They have really good whiskey." Soon, their fourth facefault occurred as everyone in the room was tired of the pirate giving them useless info. Out of all of them, Ravess seemed the one who was most irritated.

"Can I talk to you two for a moment?" she said, before grabbing the two human male commanders and dragging them out of the room, leaving only the grunts alone with a dangerous criminal. She let go of them and turned to the two with a serious look on her face, bluntly saying, "I think he's stalling."

"I agree, he is stalling," The Dark Ace said, looking at the pink-haired woman, "But that pirate could be telling the truth after all." He glanced around, suspicious of his comrades. He had heard that Scabulous was old, and by that, he was really, really old. The pirate must have seen and experienced things that most people wouldn't in their lifetime. So, it was logical that he must have something that wasn't useless. Unfortunately, his thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of a fight.

All there squadron leaders quickly turned to the interrogation room and opened the door, only to see two Talons knocked-out and handcuffed to each other, along with a broken . Once they woke up, they stared at their higher ups with scared looks on their faces. One of them gulped and said, "The… prisoner got away… Heh."

Now, the commanders were really pissed. There was a pirate on the loose, who could be doing who-knows-what by now. They didn't believe things could get worst until another Cyclonian grunt came in and said, "Starling has the Gaian now! The two guards taking her were knocked out unconscious!"

Okay, now it was worst. There was a criminal out and their prisoner had just escaped with a sky knight. The Dark Ace was beyond angry; someone needs to die and it better had to be one of those two.

"Ravess! Snipe! We need to head back to the hanger! That would be the first place that pirate to go in order to get out!" he commanded as he stomped towards the hanger with the giant and violinist behind him. This definitely wasn't the best time to cross the Dark Ace's path.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the hanger, the rest of Murk Raiders were still tied up at the moment. As being worried about their own lives, they were also worried about their captain also. Their leader had a habit of getting out okay, but they were captured by the largest army in Atmos. There was no way they were going to get out of this one alive. At least they had a good run and had a ton of treasure hidden away.

Suddenly, the Talons that were guarding them were startled by a noise coming from one of the entryways. They started to creep towards it, cautious about what could be lurking around. Unfortunately, they didn't see it coming when Scabulous jumped out and started to shoot at the Talons. Even with him missing the vital points, the Talons still fainted. Maybe it was because of how the weapon he was holding wasn't exactly from Atmos; whatever it was, it worked.

The captain smirked before heading over to free his crew. They cheered in the fact that they were free. But he frowned, knowing that somewhere his prey was getting away because of a legendary sky knight who was with her back at the Slum Markets and is probably taking her off the terra right now. He couldn't let that happen, so he hopped onto a skimmer and began to start it up.

"You lot get back to the ship! I'm going to go after the Gaian myself!" he commanded, while giving them the evil eye. The squadron quickly obeyed, not wanting to anger their leader further. He was already busy trying to turn on the skimmer, which was so new to him since Murk Raiders don't exactly have sky rides. He finally turned it on and started to head towards the sky entrance. Once the Talons entered, he was already falling off the entrance, trying to figure out how to activate the wings. It only took him about five minutes until he pulled the trigger to go into a rough flight mode.

After getting up to an appropriate height, he took out his tracer and smirked. Then, he started to head towards the beeping dot, distinguishing the fact that his prize was so close, he could almost feel it.

* * *

Starling was riding her Slipwing, looking for another safe terra to land, away from Cyclonian troops. It wouldn't be long before the rest found out that the Gaian was gone. Speaking of which, the sky knight's little companion was in total silence after she figured out that the thing about being a traitor wasn't really true. She was still beating herself up for that; at least she didn't faint when they flew off the terra.

"Would you forget about that already? Everyone makes mistakes from time to time. You are no exception." the sky knight said, trying to make it like it wasn't a big deal, which was right; it wasn't a big deal since most of the people on Atmos got fool by the Cyclonian's tricks anyway. Hers was no exception.

"I know, I know," the child said, making it sound like she was a know-it-all, "But I'm almost into my early twenties. I thought I wouldn't be stupid enough to fall for something like this." The Interceptor sighed; the teen was being too hard on herself. But then again, she was a little bit gullible. The older one was about to say something until some energy blasts went by them.

The two turned around and groaned at what they saw. It was the Murk Raider captain, riding a skimmer very roughly. He had now discovered how to activate the weapons' system and was using it to try to take down the so-called "Red Streak". He wasn't going to kill the riders, per say, he just wanted to make the ride go into a crashing dive so he could get the Gaian.

There was one thing on Starling's mind, as she exclaimed, "How did he find us so quickly?!" Emma had realization, before checking her jacket. She forgot about the tracer, which she should have gotten rid of when she was with Starling. She smiled with embarrassment as the sky knight looked at her with an irritating glare.

The teen was going to get rid of her jacket, since it was one of the two quick and rational ways to be off radar, but due to the purple-haired woman's driving, she couldn't take it off without falling off. Her acrophobia was starting to act up as she clinged to the skimmer with a freaked-out look on her face. She really hated being on a skimmer now.

The Interceptor quickly went into a deep cloud fog in order to lose the fire. Even if the pirate did have a tracker, he wouldn't be able to see the plane-bike clearly, thus, giving the duo a chance to make some distance between them and the pirate. But even with the fog, the girl was too scared to let go and get rid of her jacket. It was because of her fear of falling from high places, especially with Starling's speeding up her skimmer and the crazy driving. She was still like that when they got out of there, stiff as a statue.

The older woman looked at Emma and stated, "I think we lost him." Suddenly, a few blasts came in front, as the two turned to see a Talon platoon ahead of them, being led by the Dark Ace. The brunette gulped in the knowledge that she was as good as dead. Not because of her being inexperience in sky battles; it was because of her grip slipping during the sky knight's stunts.

The Elite Talons swooped down as the pilot did some aerial maneuvers to dodge the on-coming attacks. This involved the barrel-rolls, the loop-de-loops, and the Pylon Eights; it was like being on a coaster ride. In which the Gaian hated, as she felt a little bit sick to her stomach. It also loosened her grip a little.

As Ravess' arrows started to advance, Starling did another barrel-roll to deflect them. The teen was too dazed to notice and her arms let go of the Slipwing. Suddenly, a Talon grunt came out in front and started to blast at them. The sky knight pulled to the side; making her companion slip off. The other realized quickly, just she grabbed the side of the skimmer. Her legs dangled as she was beyond scared right now.

"… Can we get away without doing all the fancy antics?" the teen asked, smiling sheepishly. The purple-haired woman glared to her, about to say something until she saw the head Talon commander next to them. He smirked evilly as he used his sword to shoot a red energy blast at the skimmer. The sky knight pulled away, but not enough as the girl barely hanging on was hit instead. She went numb before letting go of the air ride, falling down.

As the Gaian fell down to the Wastelands, she felt the air past through her body really fast. This was bad; she was free-falling from a really bad height. It reminded her how she probably had gotten her fear of high places. The only difference was that she was falling from the sky, not a small tree growing next to a sidewalk. So, instead of a broken arm and cracked head, she was going to be a messy pile of blood and guts, or whatever got to her first. What a way to die.

And yet, for the first time, she felt calm as she twirled uncontrollably down. Sure, Emma dreamed of flying in the sky, but what kept her from keeping up in the air by her own will was the recurring of being hurt again or worst. So, the only thing she could do was watch those who were gifted with the fearlessness for flying. But immediately her peacefulness was erased when she saw the lava down below the clouds.

Just as the brunette was about to scream, she heard someone yell, "Don't worry! We got you!" Then, she felt someone grabbed her arms. Even with her vision blurred, she thought those figures were very familiar, like some old forgotten friends. Then, she paled. If they were the people she was thinking about, how was she going to explain herself? But she felt dizzy from the falling and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Starling growled; the Talons had her out-matched, even without her flight-challenged companion. They had her out numbered even with her gun downing them. It was like shooting down one and then having the person be replaced by two. It wouldn't be long before she was going to fall down into the Wastelands as well. A Cyclonian grunt came up in front and was about to shoot her down; that was until he was shot down himself by a blue energy bolt.

The female sky knight looked up to and smiled. A familiar red head flew next to her, along with a familiar tanned, blue-haired girl. "Need any help?" he asked, as he turned to the remaining enemies, smirking. It was just the Dark Ace, Ravess, and a few other lower-rank Talons. Most of them were already heading for the Wastelands viva la parachute and Snipe was nowhere to be seen ever since the head commander stunned the Gaian to let her fall below the cloud level. That same man was now glaring at boy with intense rage.

"Storm Hawk!" he exclaimed, "What are you doing here?!" Aerrow turned to him with a cocky smirk on his face. Oh, how much the commander wanted to wipe of that smug look.

"Well, we were here to get rid of your new base… But right now, we're going to stop you and save our friends." the younger sky knight explained, with a smirk. Everyone was confused by this; he said he had "friends" to save, as in there was someone else other than Starling. If that boy meant the other-worldly girl, it was too late for that. At least, that's what most people thought until some grunts were spun around by four fast blurs.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

"WE'RE DEAD! WE'RE DEAD! WE'RE DEAD!"

"COME BACK HERE WITH MY GAIAN! YOU THIEVES!"

"SNIPE SMASH STUPID BLONDE AND STUPID GLEEP!!"

To rewind back to previous events, the Storm Hawks were in the base way before Starling, Emma, and the Murk Raiders came in and created chaos. The squadron was there to spy to see what the Cyclonians were planning, but Finn had overheard the Interceptor's conversation about the Dark Ace giving everyone the wrong impression. So, after the spying, they came up with a plan in case the Talons were to attack for a dog fight. Piper and Aerrow would help out Starling while Finn and Junko would try to take Emma back to the Condor. It was going good so far except for one little problem, they didn't know that Captain Scabulous would be crazy enough to fly a skimmer and chase after them for a human being. Or that Snipe could be so angry at them for ruining his plans.

In other words, everything was going into chaos.

"Come back here with my Gaian!" All those who weren't with the chase heard as they watched the sharpshooter, wallop, pirate, and Cyclonian commander fly around. The Dark Ace face-palmed himself; this was embarrassing. One of Cyclonia's finest is chasing after two teens; one of them being asleep, a wallop and a pirate. The largest army in all of Atmos was being duped by snot-nosed punks. This made their head commander growled in annoyance. He wasn't going to lose… Again!

"Ravess! Go help your brother take out those two nuisances!" the black-haired man said, as the Talon sharpshooter started to follow the cat-mouse chase. Then, he took out his sword and activated the red energy blade, while charging at Aerrow. The boy turned serious as he took out his glowing blue daggers. His co-pilot started to charge the skimmer forward at the man. With Starling and Piper taking care of grunts, it was turning into pretty cool dog fight.

Meanwhile, Finn and Junko were busy trying to dodge energy blasts, mace balls, and arrows in order to get to the Condor with Emma in one piece. The two were sweating after being near the lava below and were glad that they had made it out alive. Unfortunately, there was a Murk Raider waiting, which caused the wallop's allergies to act up. But not only did they have a pirate on their tail, but Ravess and Snipe were also chasing them. Maybe it all the times they messed up their plans, but that didn't matter. All that matter was trying to get to the Condor and dropping off the sleeping teen before something worse could happen.

"Dude! Emma totally owns us after this!" yelled Finn, as he tried to dodge another projectile from one of the three. Sure, he was okay with going into Wastelands, especially if they were not touching the actually ground itself. But to come back up with three mortal enemies on your tail?! That was nuts! After this, the sharpshooter was definitely interested in hearing what happened while she was by herself.

The wallop nodded before sneezing again. His allergies were really acting up ever since being chased by that Murk Raider captain. But he was really confused by why the sky pirate was flying? Weren't all Murk Raiders afraid to fly on skimmers? Apparently not, after the strongman was feeling the heat from those energy blasts. He hoped that he and his buddy would make it out alive before something bad could happen.

Back behind them, Ravess, in between her shots, was yelling at her brother, "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!" Snipe should have forgotten about the Gaian and just let her fall into the hot lava. They really didn't need to give the child to the buccaneers; they just needed her gone so no one else would figure out that they were going to invade Gaia/Earth. They shouldn't give that brat to pirates; it was undignified. Her brother must be on something to suggest that.

The giant was about to yell back at her, before hearing a loud bang, followed ping. Very soon, he was falling after his heliblade lost its rotor; he activated his parachute in time. There were two more loud bangs and pings, before the woman lost her switchblade wings also. She was falling down before activating her parachute. Then, the two siblings glared at the captain, who was relaxing on his skimmer after figuring out the auto-pilot. While twirling his strange gun around, he said, "Sorry, but you two were ruining my fun."

The two Storm Hawks looked back and blinked at what happened. "… What was that?" Junko asked, now noticing the weapon that Scabulous used. It wasn't like anything he had seen on Atmos; was it a new weapon that no one else had? Finn saw the revolver as well. For some reason, he felt his crossbow sulked in shame.

Snapping back to reality, the sharpshooter replied, "I don't know! Keep flying!" The two went back into getting away from battle and towards the carrier ship. A few seconds later, they saw the Condor in sight. "All right! Now, we just have to set Emma down, get back to the others, and- AHHHHHHHH!!" The blonde was suddenly falling after the energy shots from a Talon skimmer hit his wings, causing him to go off his skimmer. He landed on the wallop's skimmer as his went into a tail spin down. The two looked at it as it span down to the run-way, with their other-worldly friend on it.

"… Do you think she'll be okay?" the strongman asked, as he continued to watch the mini-airbike spin downward. Finn looked at it as well, trying to make see if it could make it. Even if it was a rough estimate, he was pretty sure that the skimmer was going to make it to the Condor. And they didn't have time to save her now; most of their friends were out-numbered by Talons.

"I think she'll be fine!" commented the blonde teen, "Now, let's get back and win this!" And soon, the two left for the fray. Sure enough, the sharpshooter was almost right. In a couple of moments, the skimmer landed on the run way, with the Gaian under it. She landed on her back with a big thud, which caused her weight to break the tracer, in effect gave her to get a thousand-volt, wake-up shock.

Once waking up with a daze, a few questions ran through her mind. One being why was she under a badly damaged vehicle? She knew that she couldn't have been driving it; she didn't even have a driving license back on Earth. Very quickly, the girl realized where she was and looked at where the battle was. After standing there, she started to pinch herself to see she was dreaming or what? Once she felt the pain after seven pinches, she rubbed her arm and realized, "Oh my god, I fell through a wormhole and my spirit somehow popped up with my-future-self."

"… Not to disturbed your entertainment of watching our doom," said the familiar voice, which was clearly Stork's on the announcer, "But I suggest you get inside the Condor before the world decides to end." Strange how future Stork still sounded like regular Stork back in the past, unless this was still the present. Deciding that going inside was better than standing out here on a cliff-like structure, especially when you're really high. She started to run until a basic switchblade pass overhead. Scabulous jumped off of it and landed in front of her with the Atmosian gun at hand.

"One more step and you'll be stuffed and mounted." he said, aiming it at one of her vital organs, at least that's what she thought. Emma gulped at the thought of being shot, but at the thought of being so close to the entrance gave her a little bit of confidence. So, in reckless stupidity, she took a fighting stance and held up her fist, shaking; the fact that he had a gun still scared her.

The pirate raised an eyebrow at this, and then burst into a cackle. "The kid wants a fight before she becomes capture here, eh?!" he crowed, making the girl be scared more. He's definitely going to fight her now. The captain smiled evilly as he said, "Alright, I'll fight, and it shall be fair. Only fists, no weapons, and if your little, green friend decides to dump us off, I swear I'll haunt him in the next afterlife!"

"… Damn it." said Stork over the intercom; the Murk Raider had given him a pretty good idea, and now he can't use it for fear of being curse. From the bridge, he could see the two circling around and getting closer like wolves around a meal. If the merb could read minds, he could have heard the Earthling formulating a plan in her head. It probably wasn't the best thing to do since she was in battle.

'Okay… I'm fighting a pirate with only my fists. He's doing the same as well… He outmatches me in strength and probably smarts and speed as well. So, I can't escape this fight… Okay, I think I can get him by lowering his stamina. So, I'll block his punches and then hit when there's opening… I feel like forgetting something.' She realized what she was forgetting at a close call, as Scabulous swung his metal claw at her. The teen ducked at the last second, with a freaked out look on her face. '… Okay, new plan: block his real hand, dodge his claw.'

As the Gaian and pirate began their fight, the rest of the Storm Hawks were finishing some of their own. With them gaining two players and the Talons losing two of their own, the grunts were at a big disadvantage between Junko and Finn's shooting, Piper's crystals, and Starling's stealth. In other words, they were getting their butt kicked. The only person who could help the lower soldiers was the Dark Ace, but right now, he was busy with a certain red headed boy.

"Do you know what you're doing?!" the man asked, as he swung his sword at the sky knight. The other blocked and tried to strike, only to have it block. "You shouldn't help an Earth Dweller!"

"We're here to help Starling! Emma was just here when we arrived." retorted Aerrow as his co-pilot turned in order to dodge an energy blast. The older male growled. The way the Storm Hawk had said it, it was like it wasn't a big deal. This irritated him to a big level.

"But you could have let her die. Don't tell me that sky knights are helping out Gaians now." The Talon commander mocked. He was about to slash the kid, but his opponent quickly dodged. The black-haired man was getting very annoyed now; not just from the battle, but by the sky knight was acting towards the other-worlder.

"So?" the boy asked, before slashing at the Dark Ace, only to have it dodged, "Emma's our friend. Why does it matter if she's a Gaian?!"

His enemy smirked as he said, "Did you not forget, Aerrow? Gaians were the ones who started the war. They have valued treasure, their own values, and their own lives over anything else. And since they weren't satisfied with their own world, they decided to invade our own. They are nothing but weak, pitiful fools. I guess since you want to save one that makes you and your squadron fools as well."

That's when the sky knight got really angry. Anyone can call him insults, but when it came to insulting his friends, that is where he drew the line. Aerrow knew what he should do as he felt his energy starting to swell up inside. He jumped up as he twirled with the blue energy flowing around him. He raised his daggers over his shoulders as two ethereal-feathered wings appeared behind him. Then, with all his might, he threw a large, blue energy blast at the enemy.

And just like that, ladies and gentlemen, the boy preformed the famous Lightning Claw move. The Dark Ace noticed it at the last minute and tried to dodge it. But it was too late, and his switchblade was shot down. He growled as he activated his glider and flew off, away from battle. The remaining Talons noticed too and started to retreat as well; there was no way they could win without their commanders out of the fray. The Storm Hawks and Interceptor gathered around the red-haired boy and cheered.

"Aerrow! That was great!" shouted Piper, who raised her staff in triumph. Everyone has did excellent in battle; there was only minor damage to the vehicles, but nothing a little wallop muscle wouldn't fix. The younger sky knight smiled back at his team with satisfaction in his heart.

"Yea… Now, let's get back to the Condor." he commanded, before adding, "Stork and Emma will be glad to see us." Then, they started to fly back to the carrier, not knowing of the small battle happening there.

Even though Emma was in a fisticuffs match with Scabulous, she glanced back the at air battle from time to time to see how the sky squadron was doing. When she saw Aerrow doing his famous Lightning Claw attack, she stood with awed in her eyes. It was amazing; a totally awesome move that she had seen in movies and video games. And that mana/chi/chakra/whatever-it-was attack kicked the stupid Dark Aces' butt to the crib. All the reactions she wanted to do after seeing that was summed into that small word, "…C-Cool…"

"Oi, kid!" said a familiar voice. Still dazed from the scene, she didn't notice her opponent in front of her. In fact, she didn't notice until she felt the excruciating pain from the punch in the jaw. She was propelled to the entranceway to the hanger with a big thud. She winced as she fell to the floor. She stared at the pirate as he ranted, "Focus on your own battle instead of watching others fight!"

The teen looked up heavily as the captain advanced to her with a smirk. He almost had her in his grasp. Soon, he would have a Gaian; a creature said to be a myth, but he knew it was true. He was about a few feet away, until the sky knights landed and stood in front of the girl. He growled in annoyance; fate was such a cruel, cruel figure.

"You're not taking another step, Murk Raider!" yelled Starling as the rest ready their weapons. As they stood, they heard a blaring sound. The pirate smirked, knowing what that means. Even though he had his treasure in front of him, there were six obstacles in the way. So, it was better to run away and live to fight another day. The squadron didn't see it that way, as the captain started to run off of the launch way and then jumped into the endless heavens. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending how you'll like to see it, the Blood Crow popped out of the clouds, with Scabulous hanging from its mouth on a roped-ladder.

"Someday, Gaian!" he exclaimed from the bow, "Not today, but someday!" And the ship left with and disappeared into a foggy bank. After that strange encounter, the group turned to Emma, who was trying to stand up; she was battered and bruise from the fight, but nothing serious. She looked up to the group with a neutral look on her face. She could see the emotions that form their faces: shocked, relief, and maybe some mistrust.

It was silent for a minute, before Aerrow spoke. "Come on, let's get inside." Everyone started to walk in, including the Earthly teen. But in her mind, she was questioning herself if this would be something that she'll regret later.

* * *

A while later, Aerrow and Starling were in the hanger bay, talking about things they did had done after they last met. It was the usual; the Interceptor spying on Cyclonian activity, while the Storm Hawks were taking them down with force. Soon, the older sky knight changed the subject to the plan she had set for their other-worldly friend. After all this, there was bound to be changes to what she had in mind.

"I think the Gaian wants to stay here with you and your squadron for now," the purple-haired woman said before explaining, "She seems to already make this place her home and if she were on another terra, there might be trouble. After what that Murk Raider said, I rather let her be with people that I know can protect her than on another strange place with a squadron who doesn't know how to fend off pirates."

"Yea, but it's still Emma's choice. I don't want her to be force into something she doesn't." the younger knight replied back. After learning the truth, he couldn't forgive the Gaian because there was nothing to forgive; the Cyclonians had tricked her and that was enough evidence to prove that she was not with them. But he still wondered why the girl still ran away.

Starling smiled softly as she said, "I must be going now. See you again soon." Then, she hopped onto her skimmer and rode/flew off into the deep mist. The red head watched as he leaned against a stack of crates. As much as he wanted her to join the team, he knew that the Interceptor still had skeletons in her closets about squadrons; she didn't want to relive the pain of losing her team. He thought in silence until he heard something that definitely needed his attention.

"ACK!" said a voice, which was quickly silenced. The sky knight blinked, as he started to walk to where the source of the sound was. Once he found it, his face went blank at the shock. Emma was standing there, her face grimacing with pain as a blue mini-furry was attached to her leg through his teeth. She was also was holding a parachute bag to her mouth in order not to make any more sound. The boy raised an eyebrow at this scene; he didn't know whether to laugh at the scene or to feel sorry that his co-pilot was biting her.

To compromise between the silliness and the remorsefulness, he simply smiled and asked, "What are you doing?" The girl jumped up a little bit and then turned to Aerrow with a fake smile on her face. Radarr also looked and started to head towards the boy, letting go in the leg in the process. They both looked at her serious now, knowing why she had that parachute in the first place.

"Look, if this is still about what the Dark Ace said about being a traitor, we all know now that isn't true. He only said that to make you believe you're a traitor and I'm sure there's a logical explanation of the pictures you have in your room," the red head said, as the brunette sighed in relief. He understood a little of what she figured out. But she felt stiff when he persisted, "But I don't understand is why you left us when we were at Amazonia."

The teen blinked, before sitting down; she didn't know whether to tell him or not. Feeling the guilt of her conscious weighing down on her, she answered, "I have an older sister… She and I were Talon trainees before they decided to use my sister's brain for their invasion plan of Earth. They also decided I was worthless before shoving me on that ship."

The sky knight looked shock as she said that. He didn't know about that stuff; in fact, he didn't even know that she had an older sister who was captured by Cyclonians. He breathed in before exclaiming, "It was pretty gutsy that you told us you were from Gaia. Why didn't you tell us about this as well?"

Emma looked at the ground and sighed; she was starting to feel shameful at not telling them sooner. "You guys all thought I was on that ship when I first came to this world. I just went along with it because you probably wouldn't have trust me if I told you I was with Cyclonians for a while." Aerrow sighed with disappointment; they were both at fault, but that didn't matter. The point was trust and there was little of it between them right now.

"That still doesn't make up for the fact that you lied to us… Mostly. We accept you for being a Gaian and that's being a bigger deal than being with Cyclonia for a while… As long as you're not a spy and all. " The girl felt okay at the boy's words, but she still felt the looming of guilt over her head. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder as she looked up at him as he said, "And don't you worry, we'll get your sister back."

The Gaian stood up as her face showed some neutrality. "Aerrow, after that message you got from Amazonia, I'm not sure if my sister is back on Cyclonia, and I don't want to risk being tricked again. Besides, this is my problem, not yours'. You have your team and world to help. Besides, it's no big deal to you." The sky knight looked at her with a scorning face; she didn't seem to get the picture.

"It is a big deal! If Cyclonis is looking to invade your world, it is big trouble for our world as well. Cyclonis comes up with these plans in order to take over Atmos anyway. So, it is our duty to not only to protect our world, but your world also." the red head said, before smiling a soft smile. "Besides, we're friends, we help each other out."

The teen sighed as she said, "We're not friends exactly. I'm more of a roomy who is only staying with you only for a while. Besides, I'm nineteen years old; I shouldn't let a bunch of kids help me with saving my sister… No offense."

"None taken," replied Aerrow, before saying, "And I don't know how you act on your own world, but here, you shouldn't feel like an outsider. You shouldn't feel that you're alone and you have to do things all by yourself. Even though you're not really a Storm Hawk, you're a friend to the Storm Hawks and we'll help you in any way possible."

Emma felt reassured by the boy's words, but she still felt a little trouble. "I'm not sure if you guys are ready to trust me again. You probably can but the rest… I'm not sure." The teen boy listened, knowing that was almost true; he still felt he could trust her a little, but he still had some suspicion. But he smiled and laughed a bit as Radarr hopped off his shoulder onto the girl and started to examine her hair for any bugs. She looked pretty annoyed at this.

After laughing, he calm down and advised, "Just try to be more social and honest. You don't need to hide your feelings and thoughts. If you have something to say, say it." This helped a little; the brunette wasn't really that talkative but she still had opinions, some which would probably condemn her to being more of a traitor than a friend. But she felt like she could be herself for once. Maybe she can really speak for herself here.

"Okay then, if you want me to be honest, then another reason I'm traveling with you guys is because I don't ride a skimmer," she said, but before the sky knight could said anything, she concluded, "And if you ask why or try to get me to ride one, I'll curse you… Somehow." It was silence for a moment as the two stared at each other; the cabbit hopped down and gazed at the two. Then, Aerrow laughed, not an insulting laugh, more of a friendly laugh. Emma blinked, before chuckling as well; part of a reflex.

"Come on, it's about time for dinner. Junko is probably munching everything down by now," the red head said, before leaving with his co-pilot. The Gaian was about to leave as well, but felt a shock on the back of her neck. She reached back and grabbed the tracer that the Murk Raiders were using to track her down. Looking at the broken tracer, she thought of all the things back home; her family, her video games, her home, all those things that were back on Earth that she left in order to see if some urban myth was true. Thinking about what she missed, she sighed in the knowledge that she's going to be homesick. But she couldn't go, not when she still had unfinished business in the world.

'Katie… Please wait… We'll get home.' she thought, clenching the tracer. After that, she headed for the bridge, the feeling of dread completely gone and a sense of belonging on this world found.

* * *

Atmos, a world mostly of fire on the surface and a sea of air on top, with only a few isolated mountains to support the life it has. Each land mass is protected by their own group called sky knights against the beasts, rogues, and an army who wishes to rule the world again. Yes, it is a world trying to find peace in the mist of chaos.

Like Earth, it has its humans who just as complicated as the humans of the terrain, but it also has other races that have adapted some of the values of humans into their culture. Wallops, strength and power; Merbs, intellect and foresight; Blizzarians, carefree and innocent; Raptors, instinct and vigilant; and Raiders, malice and free. All these races had either received a value from the human race or have contributed into giving their own values to them.

In a world where there is isolation, it is amazing how the inhabitants found a way to make contact through one another; whether it was an encounter, a battle, or a rescue that brought them together. In a way, it is almost like Earth; all its different cultures with their own principles evolving as time passes.

So, there really isn't such thing as total isolation as it can be found sooner or later. And just like in the past, Atmos and Earth will find out about each other and realize that they're not alone

_**The End**_

* * *

I'M DONE!! Sorry for the wait! A lot of things kept popping up, some I wish not to discuss. As punishment, you can throw a pie at me for the wait and another if this chapter sucks to you. Well, it's either pies or your own ammo.

Yes, this is the last chapter for two reasons. One, I have a lot of other stories ideas that involve my character that would deprive from this plot and two… I sorta haven't figured out how to really end her adventures yet.

For accomplishments in this chapter, I did a sky battle. I also got Captain Scabulous to fly a skimmer; if you watch the series closely, none of the Murk Raiders have their own rides; they only fly on a ship. There's also some hidden information in there if you like to believe a pirate's word. And the last thing is I got Stork to curse; if you read any of the pervious chapters, I haven't made any of the Storm Hawks swear… I think.

Coming up with the Chapter title was hard. One of the reasons was I wanted it to be a song, mostly something from Megumi Hayashibara in honor of the new fourth season of Slayers. But it really didn't work out as I thought, as I found a better song title while cruising Youtube. So, the title was based off Linkin Park's song, _Somewhere I belong_.

On a little side note, I'm not sure if anyone got this, but in this story, there is no Storm Hawks' show. There is probably going to be some other shows, books, movies, and/or video games I'm going to cut out of this as well, but I'm not sure yet.

Also, can someone help me with the differences between the Gaian/Earthling human race and Atmosian human race. The only thing I came up with is how they smell… Yea, not very exciting. I'm not going to add that Atmosians have energy attacks because that's only for Sky Knights and you have to include the people on Earth that have ESP and magic; Yes, this is going to deal with the paranormal and mystical as well.

By the way, I'm not going to start on my next Atmos/Gaia story project soon. I'm going to do a few non-OC stories before doing another one. One of the non-OCs' being the Storm Hawks fairy tale parodies.

Now, I would like to thank the people who have reviewed the pervious chapter; MissDedodakes, Kitten2007, and Cold-heart-Angel23 twice, and also for the Story Alert as well. For Kitten2007, here are the Storm Hawks… Too bad it was the last chapter. Sorry.

So, people who have been reading this story, give out your opinions about this. Questions, praise, and criticism for all those regular reviewers and lurkers as well.

In other words, please read and review!


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